The shoulder joint is the third most vulnerable athlete to injury. Only the knee and ankle are injured more often. Shoulder pain can occur both during everyday activities and during sleep, which significantly reduces the quality of life. Treatment may be lengthy and depends on the type of injury.
Construction of the shoulder joint
The shoulder joint consists of a large head of the humerus and a much smaller acetabular cavity in the scapula. The area of the cavity itself is reinforced by a cartilaginous-ligament edge called the labrum, which enlarges the articular surface. It is a very important stabilizing element. Another part of the shoulder joint is the rotator cuff – also known as the rotator cuff, the set of four muscles and tendons that surround the shoulder and give it support.
The shoulder joint is a spherical joint characterized by a wide range of mobility in many directions: flexion and extension, abduction and adduction, external and internal rotation. Due to the high mobility and extensive anatomical structure, any activity with the use of arm movements, especially over the head, may cause overload and, as a result, damage to soft tissues. It is often the cause of shoulder pain among athletes.
Trunk space syndrome
Shoulder pain is the third most frequently reported musculoskeletal dysfunction, with subacromial tightness accounts for about half of all shoulder pain cases. It is a complex of pathologies located in the subacromial space associated with the subacromial bursa and the tendons of the rotator cuff. The causes of the syndrome can be very different, e.g. long-term movements of the upper limb over the head, causing damage to the rotator cuff with an onset of inflammation, which narrows the subacromial space. Factors may include the degeneration of the supraspinatus causing the stronger deltoid muscle to pull the head of the humerus towards itself, which reduces the subacchial space, causing it to become cramped.