Medical history (history of illness) represents an important component in the diagnosis of omalgia (shoulder pain).
Family history
- Are there any diseases of bones/joints in your family that are common?
Social history
- What is your profession?
- Do you work physically hard in your profession? (regarding specific overload syndromes).
- Are you left-handed or right-handed?
Current medical history/systemic history (somatic and psychological complaints).
- Where is the pain localized?
- Is there radiation of the pain to the cervical spine (C-spine), thoracic spine (C-spine), forearm, or hand?
- How long has the pain been present? (> 3 months = chronic shoulder pain).
- How did the discomfort start?
- Suddenly
- Slowly increasing
- After an accident
- After an overload or incorrect movement
- What leads to the worsening of symptoms?
- Movements (what kind?)
- Load-dependent (indicative of degenerative changes).
- Lying on the affected shoulder (speaks for a shoulder disease; if the patient can sleep on the affected side without problems, this speaks more for cervical spine problems)
- Rest pain or night pain (indicative of inflammatory changes).
- Do you have any functional limitations of the shoulder?
Vegetative anamnesis incl. nutritional anamnesis.
- Do you participate in competitive sports? If so, which sport do you favor?
Self history incl. medication history
- Previous diseases (diseases of bones / joints; previous shoulder diseases; spinal diseases; muscle diseases).
- Surgeries
- Allergies
- Medication history
