Many shoulder injuries are caused by repeating the same motion over and over, such as a golf swing, swimming stroke or baseball swing. This overuse stresses the involved tendons, muscles and joints. One way to combat this is by strengthening the shoulder muscles, especially the rotator cuff muscles. Check out this handout of rotator cuff
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Can’t Sleep Because of your Shoulder?
Many shoulder problems cause difficulty with sleep at night. The #1 complaint that I hear in my practice is “I can’t get comfortable at night.” In fact, my patients are often dragged in to see me by their significant other because they toss and turn all night. Nighttime pain is often the most significant part
Read MoreTennis Elbow – What is it?
If you have pain on the outside of your elbow, chances are it’s tennis elbow. Tennis elbow, or lateral epicondylitis, is a painful condition caused by overuse which triggers inflammation or, in some cases, microtearing of the tendons that join the forearm muscles on the outside of the elbow. The forearm muscles and tendons become
Read MoreWhat’s an Ultrasound-guided Injection?
Cortisone injections are very useful in managing the inflammation associated with shoulder pain, as I discussed in my last blog post. Ultrasound provides the “eyes” for guiding the injection into the right part of the shoulder or elbow. An ultrasound machine is just like the machine used to look at a baby in a pregnant
Read MoreDoes Physical Therapy Work?
I sometimes have patients who are very reluctant to consider physical therapy. Sometimes they have had a bad experience with therapy–it hurt more or didn’t help. Certain patients felt that the therapist was not spending enough time with them, or that their therapy was too expensive. Others say that they feel like they could easily
Read MoreDo I Have Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Carpal tunnel syndrome is caused by a pinched nerve in the wrist. Since the nerve is being compressed, signals can’t flow through the nerve. This causes pain, tingling, and numbness in the hand. The pinched nerve is sort of like stepping on a garden hose. When you step on the hose, water can’t flow out
Read MoreAwake In-Office Shoulder Arthroscopy
In the past, diagnosis of shoulder problems such as rotator cuff tears required an imaging study such as an MRI. Recently technological advances have allowed for miniaturization of cameras to the point where a camera can be put at the end of a needle. These super-small cameras can be painlessly inserted into the shoulder, allowing
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