Falling on the shoulder can cause these two injuries

The shoulder is an important structure, and this is especially true when it comes to movements people make every day. An example is that the shoulder allows you to raise your arm over your head and grab a glass off a high kitchen shelf. It’s also vital to movements like throwing. Falling on your shoulder is a common way to injure this joint, and injuries that falls can cause often lead to pain when raising your arm. Here are two fall-related shoulder injuries that can cause this and other troublesome symptoms: 

1. Separated shoulder

One injury that falling on your shoulder can cause is a separated shoulder. This injury occurs when the fall stretches ligaments that hold your collarbone to your shoulder blade. When these ligaments are stretched, the ends of these two bones can pull away from each other, and this can lead to several problematic symptoms.

The most common symptom of this condition is that moving the shoulder to raise your arm can hurt. The pain of a separated shoulder also tends to increase when the affected shoulder is touched, and you might notice an abnormal bump or swelling on the top of your shoulder. This injury typically leads to bruising on the skin of the shoulder as well. 

2. Brachial plexus neuropathy

Another shoulder fall injury that can make your arm hurt when you raise it is brachial plexus neuropathy. This condition is when the nerves in your upper shoulder are pinched or damaged. Commonly, brachial plexus neuropathy happens as a result of falling on the shoulder, but it can also happen because of any strong impact to the shoulder. For this reason, people who play high-impact sports like football, hockey and rugby are more likely to injure themselves in this way. 

Pain when raising your arm won’t be the only symptom of brachial plexus neuropathy either. People with injury can also experience burning pains that shoot down the arm and into the hand. This injury tends to lead to difficulty moving the hand and fingers, and you might also feel numbness or tingling in the affected shoulder, arm or hand. In addition, if brachial plexus neuropathy isn’t promptly treated, it can cause arm and shoulder muscles to weaken. In turn, these weak muscles can lead to other movement and reflex issues. 

Armor Physical Therapy can help you with fall-related shoulder injuries that cause your arm to hurt when raised

If you’ve recently fallen on your shoulder and your arm now hurts when you raise it, physical therapy can help. Residents of Holland, Michigan, can find effective shoulder injury therapy at Armor Physical Therapy. Our team offers free screenings to help you get started with your treatment, and we build personalized therapy plans for every patient we treat. Our personalized plans are designed to use multiple therapy techniques, and techniques that could be included in your plan are: 

• Therapeutic exercises
• Manual therapy
• Joint mobilization
• McKenzie Method^®

Are you ready to take the next step to start getting our help with your shoulder injury? Contact our team today for more information or to schedule an initial appointment.