Your shoulders are where your body’s most mobile joints are located and they take a lot of wear and tear and therefore have the potential to become unstable. Shoulder arthritis in Louisiana is one particularly painful condition that affects the shoulder joints.
Arthritis doesn’t only damage your muscles and tendons but also your joints and ligaments. Shoulder arthritis generally causes symptoms such as joint pain and limited range of motion. But there’s more than one kind of arthritis of the shoulders.
Continue reading for details regarding symptoms of the five types of shoulder arthritis in Louisiana.
1. Rheumatoid Arthritis: You may have pain in both shoulders at once if you have this type of arthritis. You might also experience tenderness and warmth in your joints, a stiff feeling in your shoulders (especially in the morning), bumps under the skin in your shoulders or arms, fatigue, weight loss, or fever. It affects your joint lining and can cause joint swelling as well. Over time, it can cause erosion of your shoulder bones and deformity of your shoulder joints.
2. Osteoarthritis: The typical form of shoulder arthritis in Louisiana that is usually associated with wear and tear is osteoarthritis. It can affect the shoulders as well as other joints like your knees, hands, and hips. People over the age of 50 are more likely to develop this condition. It is characterized by a combination of joint pain, tenderness, and stiffness.
3. Post-Traumatic Arthritis: You may develop a form of arthritis called post-traumatic arthritis if you’ve sustained an injury. Since shoulder injuries are usually due to the instability of the shoulder joint, injuries such as shoulder fractures and dislocations may eventually lead to this condition. It can cause fluid to build up in your shoulder joint, resulting in pain and swelling.
4. Avascular Necrosis: This condition can result in shoulder arthritis by destroying the joint tissues in your shoulder. It’s caused when blood cannot reach the long bone of the upper arm and cells in your shoulder bone die. It is a progressive disease and can eventually cause severe pain.
5. Rotator Cuff Tear Arthropathy: Injuries to the rotator cuff are common and can lead to a form of shoulder arthritis called rotator cuff tear arthropathy. Symptoms include intense pain and muscle weakness that can make overhead lifting difficult.
- The bottom line is that shoulder arthritis in Louisiana is fixable. Depending on your diagnosis, symptoms, and disease progression, your doctor may recommend:
- Lifestyle changes, such as range-of-motion exercises;
- Physical therapy;
- Rest;
- Medications such as ibuprofen or aspirin to calm inflammation and reduce pain;
- Shoulder injections with corticosteroids;
- Surgery, if nonsurgical treatments fail to relieve symptoms.
Since pain and stiffness associated with shoulder arthritis in Louisiana can worsen over time, it’s important that you don’t ignore the symptoms. If you or a loved one is experiencing shoulder pain or other symptoms that may be related to arthritis, call our office today to schedule a consultation.