What Does A Shoulder Physiotherapist Do During An Assessment?

A shoulder physiotherapy assessment starts with taking a detailed look at the history of your shoulder to identify the mechanism of injury, identify the presence of pain and potential structures that may be involved, as well as identify the things that bother you the most and what eases your symptoms.

Your physiotherapist will then review your posture.  Your posture affects the mechanics of the shoulder joint and muscles around it. Any muscle wasting, swelling and changes of skin is also noted.

Your shoulder mobility is then assessed. This includes both active (you moving the shoulder) and passive (the therapist moving your shoulder) to identify areas of tightness, weakness or pain limitation. Any movement compensations that have developed are noted. Your strength is then assessed and some “special tests” are performed to localise or provoke the cause of your pain and confirm the suspected diagnosis.

Your physiotherapist might need to assess the cervical spine (neck) and upper thoracic area (upper back) as well, as these areas are very connected with the shoulder joint and pain can refer from these structures to your shoulder and arm.

Radiological studies such as x-rays, ultrasound or MRI are also reviewed if these have been undertaken.

If you would like to have your shoulder examined by one of our fully qualified shoulder physiotherapists, please call us at Melbourne Hand Therapy today (03) 9899 8490 or leave an enquiry and we will get back to you as soon as possible.