All about shoulder arthritis
Shoulder arthritis can be particularly painful. If nerves are involved, it can make your back hurt, your neck hurt, even give you headaches and migraines. In the worst cases, you may have difficulty sleeping or performing normal daily tasks.
For most people, shoulder arthritis is secondary to an injury to the shoulder, either through trauma or in a sports or work-related strain. While this form of arthritis can be a result of rheumatoid arthritis, shoulder inflammation or pain on only one side should generally be treated as osteoarthritis instead. If you've been in an accident and broken or dislocated your shoulder, or if you've had a rotator cuff tear, you are more prone to osteoarthritis in that shoulder.
Shoulder arthritis can involve two different joints. One is the glenohumeral joint, where the humerus (upper arm bone) connects to the shoulder blade; the other is the acromioclavicular (AC) joint, where the collarbone joins the shoulder bone. Pain is most commonly found in the first joint, and radiates to the back; arthritic pain in the AC joint generally stays in the joint or migrates to your neck.
In general, shoulder arthritis symptoms start with shoulder pain that gets progressively worse as the day goes on. As the disease progresses, you may find your motion limited, becoming unable over time to comb your hair or raise your arm above a certain level. Eventually, any movement of the shoulder may cause pain, and it may become difficult to sleep through it. You may also have tenderness to touch over the involved joint, or pain when the doctor presses on the joint. Like knee arthritis, you may have crepitus, or a crunchy sound, when you move the joint. If your doctor suspects arthritis, he may X-ray your shoulder to look for narrowing of joint spaces, or inject your joint with a local anesthetic to see if the pain stops.
Treatment of shoulder arthritis involves a blend of rest, special exercises, massage and heat treatments, and medications. Resting the shoulder is the first step, sometimes using a sling to ensure the arm remains still and in a specific position. Moist heat and over the counter pain medications like ibuprofen can be used at the same time. For severe swelling, ice can be applied to arthritis in shoulder joints, but no more than two or three times a day. Glucosamine chondroitin may help prevent further progression of arthritis of the shoulder, but it is not likely to improve symptoms that have already developed.
Shoulder arthritis can also be treated by a physical therapist. He or she will use massage and controlled movement to increase your range of motion, and will probably prescribe special shoulder exercises for you to do at home, like shrugs or shoulder rolls.
If nothing else works, surgery may also be an option. Your doctor may do a total joint replacement, or he may only replace the ball of the joint. However, the most common surgical intervention is an arthroscopy, where your doctor removes a piece of the bone causing the problem. In all but the most severe cases, this surgery brings relief.
