Call us for an evaluation of your shoulder pain and treatment for shoulder bursitis if that’s what is causing your pain. You can reach our Sugar Land clinic at 281-633-8600 and our Houston clinic at 713-234-3152. We serve patients from Metro Houston and all over Southeast Texas.
Dr. J. Michael Bennett is a Board Certified Orthopedic Surgeon and a Fellowship Trained Sports Medicine Specialist. He’s also earned a Certificate of Added Qualification in Sports Medicine.
In this video, Dr. Bennett explains the anatomy of the shoulder. He also talks about what causes shoulder bursitis and how it’s treated.
Today we’re going to talk about shoulder pain. Shoulder pain is a very common ailment that affects many of us. Now the key with shoulder pain is to determine what is chronic shoulder pain, what is acute shoulder pain, what’s going to get better and what’s not going to get better, and when you should see a physician.
First off I wanted to show you a little bit about the anatomy of the shoulder (reaches for a shoulder model). This is a right shoulder. This is the collarbone in the front of the shoulder, also known as the clavicle. This is the bone in the back of the shoulder called the acromion, this is the scapular spine in the back of the shoulder, this is the shoulder blade, and these are the muscle tendon units that surround the shoulder called the rotator cuff. There’s the subscapularis in the front, the supraspinatus up top, the infraspinatus in back, and the teres minor in the back. So it’s four tendons that come together and insert over this ball and socket mechanism of the shoulder joint.
This is the humeral head, which is the ball, and inside here is the socket. What gives you mobility in the shoulder is this group of tendons that attaches on this bone. In the front of the shoulder is this noodle-looking thing, this is the biceps tendon that runs up the front of the shoulder and inserts deep within this socket mechanism.
So regarding the shoulder, the first type of problem we can discuss with the shoulder is something called bursitis, which is very common. There is a lining above it between this tendon and the bone called the bursa, which is a fluid sac. That allows you to have mobility in the shoulder and allows this rotator cuff tendon to slide underneath this bony structure here (refers to the model). Occasionally that bursa gets very thickened and inflamed and creates a bursitis. Oftentimes a bursitis can be treated non-operatively with things like exercise, injection, modification of activities and in some instances an anti-inflammatory. That will typically calm this down 98 percent of the time.
We can treat many shoulder problems with minimally invasive or non-surgical procedures if we see the patient before serious deterioration of the shoulder joint sets in. If you wait too long, the only option remaining might be a surgery. Call for an evaluation at our Sugar Land office at 281-633-8600 or our Houston office at 713-234-3152.
