Shoulder pain (omalgia; ICD-10-GM M25.51: Joint pain: shoulder region) is soft tissue pain in the majority of cases. The muscles, tendons, joint capsule, bursa, and synovium are involved, but the bones are not.
The shoulder joint has the greatest range of motion of any joint in the human body, but this makes it particularly susceptible to injury and wear. Shoulder pain is the third most common musculoskeletal cause of medical consultation in an orthopedic office and often results in disability.
The most common diagnoses of shoulder pain are rotator cuff lesions and impingement syndrome of the shoulder (see below “Rotator cuff rupture ” and “Impingement syndrome”).
A distinction is made between acute and chronic shoulder pain. Acute pain occurs, for example, due to sports or after carrying a heavy load. Chronic omalgia is present when the pain persists for more than three months. Here, a degenerative (wear-related) joint disease is often the cause.
The shoulder-neck area is the second most commonly affected region by chronic pain.
Shoulder pain can be a symptom of many diseases (see under “Differential diagnoses”).
Gender ratio: Women are more frequently affected than men.
Frequency peak: With increasing age, the number of persons affected by shoulder pain also increases.
The prevalence (frequency of illness) is 30% (in Germany), with an upward trend.
Course and prognosis: Shoulder pain often occurs at night, because at rest the gap in the shoulder joint is reduced by calcifications, tendon tears or bottleneck syndromes (impingement syndrome, compression syndrome), resulting in pressure on the nerves and soft tissues of the shoulder. During the day, movement increases the gap again and the pain subsides. The earlier adequate therapy is started, the better the chances of recovery.
