Studies show that between 18% and 26% of all adults will suffer from shoulder pain, which can limit some of their daily activities and result in a lower quality of life.
Some will choose to ride out the pain, hoping they slept wrong. But if you have shoulder blade pain that won’t go away, you need help.
Some might opt for a medical doctor and get pain meds and even an invasive treatment. Yet, there are many good reasons to seek chiropractic care instead.
Read on to learn more about why you should consider visiting a chiropractor.
1. Pain Relief
Shoulder problems can be pretty painful. From a pinch to a strained muscle, someone struggling with shoulder pain will feel it time they even attempt to move their body.
Visiting a chiropractor can help address the shoulder pain you’re experiencing. Often the best part of having a chiropractor treat your pain is that you can do without an invasive treatment like surgery. You can also avoid the use of narcotic pain medication for treatment.
The chiropractor can pinpoint what’s creating the pain in your shoulder blade and develop a treatment plan to address it.
2. Rehabilitation of the Shoulder
The first thing a chiropractor will want to do is to pinpoint what’s causing the pain you’re experiencing.
Once they’ve done that, they can begin a treatment protocol and rehabilitation of the shoulder.
The chiropractor may work on muscles, tendons, and ligaments in and around the shoulders to strengthen them. As these get stronger, so does your shoulder joint.
The stronger the joint, the less likely you’ll feel that same pain level.
Some people even visit a chiropractor as part of their rehabilitative care following a surgical procedure or an accident in which the shoulder was injured.
3. Alternative to Medication
You might already recognize that if you go for an appointment with your family doctor, you’ll leave with some form of pain medication. While it might relieve symptoms, it won’t address what’s causing your pain.
Chiropractic care is an intelligent alternative to pain medication. The chiropractor will work to find the source of the pain you’re experiencing. You can avoid the need for pain medication by using chiropractic treatments instead.
Whether you have a pinched nerve or a muscle issue in your shoulder, the chiropractor can use pinpointed treatment to eliminate the problem, strengthen the shoulder, and alleviate the pain.
4. Better Sleep
You probably already know how hard it can be to find a comfortable sleeping position when you have an injured or aching body part. When your shoulder blades hurt, you will feel it anytime you move your arms or rest on your shoulder.
You can rest more comfortably with chiropractic care addressing the issues with your shoulder blade.
Whether the issue you have is related to your shoulder joint, nerves, or muscles in the area, the chiropractor can pinpoint the cause of the pain and create a treatment plan to help you sleep better when your head hits the pillow.
5. Improve Posture
This might feel like a childhood flashback to an adult telling you to stand up straight. The chiropractor can help improve your posture by addressing the problems with your shoulder blades.
You might be surprised to learn that poor posture is one of the most common causes of shoulder blade pain.
When your Posture isn’t good, your shoulders roll forward, your head and neck roll forward, and your head hangs forward. This puts tremendous strain on the muscles across your back and around your shoulder blades.
Strengthening the muscles across the back to work on Posture can significantly impact your Posture and shoulder blades.
6. Better Understanding of the Causes of Your Shoulder Pain
You might have woken up one day to find this severe pain in your back around the shoulder blades. You may have had the pain ongoing for a while. Either way, in many cases, the patient can’t pinpoint why they’re suffering from the awful pain.
The chiropractor better understands the anatomy of your shoulder blade area and can help you figure out what has created this discomfort.
If you’re doing something that aggravates your shoulder blades, you can address it. Your chiropractor can help create a treatment plan to heal and strengthen it.
7. Prevention of Further Problems
An essential part of treatment with a chiropractor involves prevention.
Once the chiropractor pinpoints the issue, they can work to prevent it from continuing to reoccur.
Often, the muscles need treatment to get stronger and better handle the movements in your back, shoulders, and spine.
Not only can chiropractors provide treatments, but they can also prescribe ways to better care for shoulder blades at home.
8. Chronic Pain Issues
If you suffer from chronic pain in your shoulder blade area, you know how impactful and debilitating it can be in daily life.
Chronic pain can be hard to manage, especially without pharmaceutical treatments.
A chiropractor specializes in addressing the causes of this kind of pain and helping to alleviate it. Once the cause of the pain is identified, the chiropractor can work for relief and then strengthen and prevent future problems.
9. Reduce Inflammation
You might be surprised to learn that you can suffer from Inflammation in the shoulder blade area of your back. Inflammation in your body is a sign that something isn’t right.
It can also be a source of pain and cause more limited mobility.
The chiropractor can do manual treatments across the shoulder blade area to reduce The present inflammation and help prevent its return.
10. Improved Range of Motion
Anyone suffering shoulder blade pain will understand how difficult it can feel to move their upper body because of it.
With shoulder blade treatment, the chiropractor can work to strengthen all the muscles supporting the shoulder blades. As the area gets stronger from treatments, your range of motion also improves.
Once your range of motion improves, so do all the interconnected parts of your body work better together.
11. Noninvasive Treatments
There’s an adage that when you ask a surgeon whether you need surgery, they will likely tell you that you do. They are in the business of invasive treatments.
While there are some situations where surgery can’t be avoided, a chiropractor is in the business of noninvasive treatments.
A noninvasive approach means no risk of infection and additional healing time because of surgery. It can also mean avoiding narcotics for further pain.
A noninvasive approach can speed up the healing of issues in your shoulder blades and help you avoid the other problems that come from surgery.
12. At-Home Care Options
One thing a chiropractor can do for you is help you take care of shoulder blade treatment at home, too.
So, in addition to the hands-on care you get from the chiropractor, they can help with exercise and range-of-motion treatments that you can utilize at home to continue improving the health of your shoulder blades.
13. Improve Joint, Balance, and Mobility Health Overall
The reality is that your shoulder blades and all that connect to them don’t stand as separate entities in your body. They connect and impact your ability to move and support your head and neck.
Your arms, shoulders, and spine are all impacted by the health of your shoulder blades.
When you get treatment from a chiropractor to improve the health of your shoulder blades, you also enhance your other joints, balance, and overall mobility.
Choosing a Qualified Chiropractor
Of course, once you seek out chiropractic care, you want to find a provider you are confident and comfortable with.
One of the best ways to find a chiropractor you will like is to ask friends and family if they already see someone. You can learn firsthand about their experiences and treatment.
You can also read online reviews about your chiropractor. Remember to look at trends in the comments when reading online reviews.
Another good way to get to know a potential chiropractic caregiver is by spending time on their website. You can usually get a good feel for their office and patient experience.
You can also learn more about their areas of expertise and how they approach treatments. Often, a chiropractor’s website will also have additional treatment information.
Treat Your Shoulder Blade Pain
There’s no reason to continue to suffer unnecessary shoulder blade pain. A chiropractor can treat your pain and improve your overall quality of life.
If you’re interested in learning more about treating your shoulder blade pain, we can help. Please schedule an appointment today so we can help you work towards being pain-free.