What’s causing my shoulder pain?

Symptoms:

You’ve got pain in your shoulder and can’t lift your arm up, over the last 3-4 days you’ve done a lot of painting work around the house. You have pain in your shoulder but also tender trigger points around your body where you feel pain, you seem to have a dull ache in other parts of your body. It could be:

Rotator cuff injury, often due to overuse. The cuff is a group of four muscles and tendons that are active every time you move it. The most common injures are strains, tendonitis and bursitis. Frozen shoulder which can come on suddenly, though it’s often related to an injury. This causes inflammation around the shoulder and adhesions.

Fibromyalgia, a chronic disorder with widespread pain in the muscles and bones, areas of tenderness and general fatigue. It can also make you feel depressed. Stop it:

Rest your arm, if necessary, in a sling to relieve the pain, see your doctor for an assessment and referral to a specialist possibly for a hydrocortisone injection and physio. Early treatment is essential as pain and stiffness can remain for three years. You’ll need a combination of medication, physio and possibly surgery.

See your doctor for painkillers and NSAIDS. Pain can sometimes be relieved by antidepressants and anti-seizure drugs. Try physiotherapy and t’ai chi, recently shown to help fibromyalgia.

You have such severe pain in your shoulder that you can’t move it or your arm. Reaching for an item high on a shelf is impossible.