We scrub the floors, we clean the windows, we carry heavy clothes with shopping. And the years old are flying. And once upon a time - bang! The day after Christmas cleaning, when we raise our arm, we feel a piercing pain in our joints. Specialists tell how to care for the shoulders to avoid degeneration of the shoulder joint and the painful inflammation associated with it.
The shouldercan take its toll - Dr. Zbigniew Straszak, an orthopedist, nods his head. - It's a large pond, and it doesn't sit well. The acetabulum of the scapula is shallow and does not completely cover the head of the humerus. The joint is held by soft tissues. The hand is hanging. We can make circles with it, performing the so-called circumferential movements, but then it is easy to force muscles, tendons, ligaments, exceed the limit of their endurance and damagejoints .
Excessive use of shoulder joints
Shoulder injuries occur most often to athletes: basketball players, volleyball players, swimmers, gymnasts. The worst thing is the repeated repetition of movements in an unnatural position - says Dr. Straszak. - Several hundred equal vigorous swings of the raised hand overload the shoulder. So is carrying. The joint is stretched and the inflammation is ready. Especially when we are over forty. Pain appears first, then trouble moving the arm in the shoulder. The arm cannot be stretched sideways or turned. Women fail to fasten their bra. This is how inflammation manifests itself. The pain does not go away by itself, and it even gets worse with each passing day. While defending ourselves against the pain, we hardly move our hand. The results of such proceedings can be deplorable.
ImportantLong-lasting shoulder pains are difficult to eliminate. It is said that if it hurts for three months, it will also stop after three months of treatment. So the pain must not be underestimated. Instead of swallowing painkillers and waiting for it to pass, you need to get rid of the inflammation quickly. This is why there are anti-inflammatory drugs in injections and tablets as well as physical therapy (magnetic field, laser, ultrasound, currents), which has anti-inflammatory, anti-exudative and analgesic properties. Ointments are also used locally, as long as they are not warming. The sick pond is hot, it needs to be cooled, e.g. with a gel with the addition of menthol or other essential oils. It is good to apply a cold compress every few hours for 10-15 minutes (not covered with foil), and even briefly apply ice.
Jointsshould work
In an unused joint, the inflammation calms down on its own after some time. But this is a deceptive improvement. - Avoiding movement and, above all, neglecting exercise leads tocontracture- warns Dr. Straszak. - If we do not do anything about it, we are in danger of creating a so-called frozen shoulder. Then on the x-ray. no changes are visible, the joint does not hurt, but it cannot be moved. A terrible thing! This happens, for example, in older people with a broken wrist in a cast. They are told to wear a sling to keep their fingers from swelling, but they forget that the joints should work. Especially when they are degenerated, heavily worn. After about four weeks, the bones will heal, but there may be times when someone doesn't straighten their arm at the elbow anymore and move their shoulder. The more or less the contracture will last forever.
Contracture must not be allowed
In order to prevent contracture, move the affected arm several times a day, especially in this way and in the direction of pain, but only to the so-called the pain limit. When we feel it, we stop the exercise at the same time so as not to cause additional damage. Let's get the pond to work slowly. As long as the pain is bad, let's make two or three movements as long as possible. Nothing by force. We gradually exercise more and more. Remember that joints are alive as long as we move them. Thanks to this, the cartilage surfaces are lubricated with the synovial fluid, which nourishes them and allows them to change positions efficiently and with a glide. When the fluid in the joint is not mixed, glucose and other energetic components are depleted in the cartilaginous layer. The pond, you could say, dries up.
Causes of shoulder inflammation
Most common: trauma (e.g. sprain, sprain), soft tissue irritation or overload. It can also be the result of changes and rheumatic diseases, gout, metabolic disorders, and other inflammations in the body. It often accompanies diseases of the cervical spine. The shoulder joint is mainly affected by soft tissues, which are best visible on ultrasound. They should not be jerked (a large, undisciplined dog on a leash does not do them well, as well as sudden braking in a tram), tire, overload (carrying a suitcase is not good for them). If you swim, you should swim, because it is movement in a natural position.
Degeneration comes with age
Degeneration of joints, i.e. bone inequalities and cartilage defects result from working conditions, lifestyle, and genetic tendencies. The degeneration itself does not hurt. Inflammatory reactions in the periarticular soft tissues, i.e. the joint capsule, synovial bursae, ligamentous apparatus, tendons and muscles hurt.
They have trouble with the shoulderpeople over forty. A he althy, young shoulder does not react in this way to overload, but with age everyone starts to creak something. And this must be taken into account when deciding to make excessive effort or go shopping. Because it is not the same cartilage as it was when you were young. She is losing strength and flexibility. Cartilage degeneration, like the formation of wrinkles, is primarily a loss of water. And when the cartilage becomes dehydrated, it becomes bumpy and has a worse glide. It just doesn't carry loads well.
Necessary exercises to improve joints
A painful pond needs to be saved, but that does not mean not to move it. On the contrary! Moving without load causes the fluid to be mixed and the cartilage to nourish better.
Circulation movements favor the mixing of the fluid in the shoulder joints, e.g. twisting the arms outstretched or bent at the elbows, raising and lowering the arms, swinging the arms forward and back, joining hands behind the back, just like in the picture. It is also worth exercising muscles with the help of light dumbbells, springs. For improvement exercises, we will need a regular brush stick or any stick about one and a half meters long.
- We grab it with both hands with a fairly wide grip and lift it from the height of the hips in front of us, up to the head, all the time with straight arms.
- Holding the bar in front of you with both hands, pull the bar up to your chin and lower it.
- Lean the bar on your shoulders behind your head and, holding it, spread your hands across the entire width, and then move them back towards the shoulders along the bar without lifting it up.
- Bar over the head, forearms at right angles to the shoulders; move the bar downwards so that it touches the belly at waist level; the arms remain horizontal all the time.
- Extend your hands with the bar in front of you, and then bend it until the bar touches your chest, while firmly connecting the shoulder blades.
- Raise the bar above your head on straight arms and bend them, lowering the bar behind your head.
- Grasp the bar behind us with both hands and try to raise the arms stretched back as far as possible.
- Extend your hands with the bar in front of you and move them horizontally from left to right and back, without twisting your torso.
- Stick up, arms straight, wide grip; move the bar over the head from left to right, and vice versa, until the arm touches the ear.
- We hold the bar behind our back and, bending our elbows, move it along the body from the bottom up, trying to reach as high as possible.