“Osteopathy… that’s bones right?”
Contrary to popular belief, Osteopath’s treat more than just bones. As allied health care professionals, we treat a vast range of conditions in the field of the musculoskeletal system, the shoulder joint being one of them.
Now the shoulder joint is a complex joint, with one main point to bear in mind. This joint can move! The shoulder joint is the equivalent to the breakdancing joint of your body – it can move in ways your other joints cannot. In comparison, the hip joint is a weight bearing joint and is engineered to have more stability to be able to withstand heavy loads. The shoulder joint on the other hand (bad pun intended) has a greater range of motion, which it incurs at the cost of stability.
As always with break dancers, they are prone to injury. Having that level of mobility comes at certain costs.
Stability vs mobility. A joint with a great amount of mobility relies and is dependant on the surrounding muscles to provide dynamic stability. This is where things becomes unstuck. The muscles surrounding the shoulder joint provide stability and support, this in turn makes them susceptible to injury. When a muscle is injured, the ligaments within the shoulder are exposed to injury as well due to now having a greater load placed on them without the support of the surrounding muscles.
Other factors that come into play are congruency of the joint which is affected by posture, overworked muscles, weakened surrounding muscles, neck movements and older injuries. As osteopath’s we look at a number of different ways to help aide in your recovery process once injured and get your shoulder dynamics back on track through a complex screening system which takes into account these factors and more.
If you’re having trouble with your movement, please make an appointment online today by clicking here. Or call the clinic directly on 5941-4157.
Thanks for reading!
Breanna Kerr
