I am 78 years old and as a former nurse I have always been strong in my arms. I have been having pain in my right shoulder for two months now. I can lie on it for 5 minutes. I have no trouble walking; I move my arms even more. When I sit or lie down, it starts with a slowly nagging pain. What can be done about this?
Joris Bartstra, journalist with a medical degree.
That’s hard to say. A shoulder is a complicated joint with many possibilities of movement. The bone parts have little contact: there is a kind of bowl on which the head of the upper arm can roll, but also can slide. This unstable construction is held together by muscles. Because of that freedom of movement it can happen that you damage such a muscle or its attachment; that gives long-lasting, nagging complaints that are comparable to tennis elbow. Also, between the head of the shoulder and the acromion – the piece of bone you feel at the top of your shoulder – is a bursa that can become inflamed. These are the most common complaints in young people. As you get older, there is more chance of osteoarthritis of the joint and also the tearing of a shoulder muscle. Then there is also the so-called ‘frozen shoulder’, in which the capsule of the joint is inflamed, and in fact every movement is extremely painful. Because you don’t have any pain when the arm hangs down and the pain gradually starts to increase when the arm is fixed, the first thing I think of is a problem with the bursa. Keep moving without irritating the whole thing is the advice; exactly what you do. The doctor can also give it an injection with (anti-inflammatory) corticosteroids. That helps at least temporarily; sometimes the inflammation does not come back after that.
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