There are various types of shoulder injuries. There are also special testing that is used to determine which type of shoulder injury has occurred. Testing includes physical examinations, X-rays and MRIs that often follow symptoms of shoulder pain or an obvious injury.
Shoulder Injuries
Shoulder injuries often result from sports or other intense physical activities, though they sometimes result from auto accidents or falls. Common injuries include shoulder dislocation, tears in the muscles surrounding the shoulder, tendonitis, shoulder breaks or fractures and impingement. Testing is necessary in many cases to determine the cause of shoulder pain or injury to provide proper treatment.
Physical Examination
A physical examination of the injured shoulder reveals a lot about what type of shoulder injury has occurred. The physical examination includes observation of how the shoulder reacts to movements a patient is asked to make, including movement from rotating the arm or making large circles with the arm to lifting objects and stretching. The physical exam also includes a palpation exam in which a medical professional will feel for abnormalities in the shoulder, often comparing how each shoulder feels.
X-Ray
An X-ray might be taken of the shoulder to determine if the injury has resulted in a fracture. The X-ray will take only a few moments to reveal if the shoulder bone has suffered the injury.
MRI
An MRI is another type of imaging test used to evaluate shoulder injuries. An MRI provides a visual representation of the inside of the body to show physicians if damage has occurred to muscles or tendons in the shoulder.
Provocative Testing
After consideration of an event that might have caused the injury and a general physical examination, if an imagine test such as an X-ray or MRI does not provide any information on the injury, a provocative test might be performed. A provocative test requires special movement by the patient or manipulation of movements to test shoulder response. The Neer's test is an example of this type of test that requires forced flexion of the arm. If pain occurs with the Neer's test, an impingement is often the shoulder injury. There are ore than 12 provocative shoulder injury tests.
Tags: shoulder injury, physical examination, injury occurred, Neer test, provocative test