Shoulder Pain Physio in Sheffield.
Rotator cuff irritation. Subacromial pain. Frozen shoulder. Gym pain. Pain reaching overhead. Pain at night.
You'll often hear "impingement" thrown around as a diagnosis. It describes a mechanism, not a cause. The bigger question is why the shoulder has become sensitive and what to do about it.
Usually it's a mix of tissue sensitivity, weakness in the rotator cuff or scapular muscles, postural habits, and load tolerance dropping somewhere.
The four phases, applied.
Settle
Hands-on, soft tissue, joint mobilisation, sometimes dry needling. Positions that take load off the irritated tissue.
Restore
Get the shoulder, scapula and thoracic spine moving freely again.
Strengthen
Targeted rotator cuff and scapular work, then progression to bigger lifts and overhead movement. Tempo, range, and load programmed.
Return
Lifting, sport, sleep, work, whatever the goal is.
Common questions.
Is it a tear?
Possibly. Cuff tears show up in pain-free shoulders too. Imaging often misleads. We'll work it out from your symptoms and assessment.
Do I need to stop training?
Usually not entirely. We can usually keep training going while settling it.
Frozen shoulder?
Clear stages, can take 12 to 18 months to fully resolve. Right management makes a real difference. Honest expectations from session one.