The Most Common Treatments for Shoulder Pain…But Some May Hurt More Than Help

Shoulder pain is a frequent affliction, resulting in lifestyle changes, lost wages, and a high insurance burden when it becomes chronic. In fact, up to one-quarter of the adult population has experienced or will experience shoulder pain at some point in their lives, and it is often responsible for job loss, early retirement, and disability claims, as well as diminished quality of life and even depression.

If you have shoulder pain that hasn’t resolved quickly with rest, you may wonder what your treatment options are. Here are some of the most common treatments for shoulder pain. Be aware, though, that many of these only mask pain and/or carry serious health risks. You may want to consider more innovative treatments instead, some of which are so new that your doctor may not be familiar with them but are safer and more long-lasting.

This is usually where people start with treatments at home because it’s free or low-cost and doesn’t require a trip to the doctor. If you have swelling or bruising, such as from a fall or sports trauma, ice is usually the best therapy. Heat is often better for stiffness and loss of mobility once an injury is no longer fresh or for old aches and pains that come around every time you overdo an activity or when weather changes are in the forecast.

The biggest disadvantages of these treatments? They’re hard to utilize away from home and, if your injury is deep in the shoulder joint, may not penetrate to the source of the pain.

Sometimes gentle exercise or prescribed movement therapy from a physical therapist can help with shoulder pain. You want to guard against high-impact sports, heavy resistance work, or anything that aggravates your pain, including excessive stretching.

Depending on the cause of your pain, you may be able to do activities like yoga or easy swimming. But if even those are too much, you may have to limit yourself to lower-body workouts, like brisk walking, for a while. This will let you maintain your cardiovascular health, and the circulatory benefits will help with healing and facilitate the release of endorphins, the body’s natural neurotransmitters that contribute to pain relief.

If your shoulder pain stems from poor athletic form, weakness, or musculoskeletal imbalances (common with one-sided sports like baseball and tennis), a physical therapist or athletic trainer may be able to give you specific exercises to heal and prevent future recurrences of pain. They can also teach you taping techniques in some instances, which you can use until you resolve your shoulder issues or as ongoing support during intense practice sessions.

It’s very common for shoulder pain to be caused by the wrong mattress or pillows. Having the right balance of firmness and surface cushioning is vital in protecting your shoulder girdle while you sleep. If buying a new mattress isn’t feasible, try these solutions:

• Swapping out your pillows for ones better suited to your sleeping position
• Using better support beneath your mattress to prevent sagging
• Adding a high-quality mattress topper
• Sleeping with a body pillow or bolster to provide support and prevent rolling into twisted positions

Your doctor’s office may have a complementary medicine department, which offers therapies that were formerly considered more radical but have now been accepted as beneficial. These include:

• Massage therapy
• Acupuncture
• Meditation and tai chi (great for stress-related shoulder and neck pain)
• Chiropractic

Some of these treatments need to be ongoing if you have chronic shoulder pain, which can get expensive and time-consuming. They don’t typically treat the root of your pain but, when practiced by a reputable provider, can offer relief for occasional pain or as an adjunct while you pursue other measures.

The statistics vary on the use of nonprescription drugs in America, ranging from 40 percent to 96 percent, depending on the demographics involved. As people age, they tend to use more of these medications, especially for conditions like arthritis. However, even nonprescription drugs like NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) are not harmless and carry the risk of:

• Acid reflux
• Stomach ulcers
• High blood pressure
• Increased likelihood of a cardiovascular event

Prescription pain medications have their own problems, including sedation and addiction. Opioids, in particular, have been a national concern, causing over 68,000 overdose deaths in 2020, which make up three-quarters of all drug overdose fatalities in the country. At the very least, prescription pain drugs could mask your shoulder pain to the point where you make an injury worse, which is, of course, undesirable.

Cortisone injections, which involve a steroid, used to be more common to treat shoulder pain, including sports injuries. However, new facts are coming to light about these shots. Even a single injection can cause long-term tissue damage, and they aren’t recommended for ongoing treatment. There is also the risk of injection site infection or pain from the needle hitting a nerve or bone.

Sometimes, surgery is necessary for full tears or fractures. But surgery is also often encouraged too quickly for conditions or injuries that could be managed with other treatments, like those described below. Surgery has many disadvantages and risks, including:

• High cost
• Long recuperation time
• Reactions to anesthesia
• Post-operative complications (infection, embolism, etc.)
• Unintentional worsening of pain (nerve damage, scarring, etc.)

With the current overwhelmed state of many hospitals in the US, there is now also the risk of COVID-19 infection and substandard care due to worker shortages.