Definition
The shoulder is a demanding and complicated joint apparatus, which can be quickly damaged. The shoulder is connected to the muscles of the shoulder girdle on the one hand and to the muscles of the upper arm on the other hand. For this reason, pain in the shoulder can have many different causes.
In many cases, the pain is due to acute overloading or chronic wear. The damage is then usually noticeable in the form of pain. This pain can also radiate into the arm or neck and become worse when the arm is moved. In some cases, other organs may also be projected into the shoulder area, which can result in shoulder pain in the event of a heart attack, for example.
Causes
As already briefly mentioned, pain in the shoulder or arm can have a wide variety of causes. For example, a biceps tendon rupture or a fracture of the humerus can be a possibility in acute pain. A dislocated shoulder also causes severe pain, but it is often recognized by the malposition of the joint. If the pain tends to be chronic, wear and tear of the shoulder joint can be assumed, for example. A slipped disc in the area of the cervical vertebrae can also cause chronic pain in the shoulder and arm.
Bursitis of the shoulder
The shoulder joint consists of tendons, muscles, bones and bursae. These are important to ensure smooth movement of the joint. There are three bursa in the shoulder joint: the bursa subdeltoidea, bursa subacrominalis and bursa subcoracoidea.
However, these bursa can become inflamed and thus cause pain when the shoulder is moved. This inflammation of the bursa is called bursitis. In the case of an inflammation, the bursa subdeltoidea and the bursa subacrominalis are usually affected (see: Bursitis subacromialis). As a therapeutic measure for chronic inflammation, the bursa can be removed endoscopically (through small skin incisions). This procedure is called bursectomy.
