Should you have shoulder pain, do you think for the first time that you have frozen shoulder? In fact, there are many causes of shoulder pain. It is best to conduct targeted diagnosis and treatment after the doctor has checked and diagnosed.
Today, I will share a disease that is easy to cause shoulder pain, but is often ignored by everyone. It is “anterior humerus slip” !
Image source: Visual China
Mr. Zhong, 62, came to see a doctor for two months because of worsening pain in his right shoulder. According to Mr. Zhong, there was only a little pain at the beginning, but it became more and more painful later, which affected the range of motion of the shoulder joint.
When we did the first physical examination, Mr. Zhong’s right shoulder was very obviously buckled forward, which affected the activity of stretching back and touching the back.
After careful inspection, it was found that there was anterior humerus slippage in his right shoulder joint . After performing humerus anterior slippage reduction and training, the pain in the shoulder joint was relieved and the range of motion was improved.
Image source: Visual China
What is anterior sliding of the humerus?
Anterior sliding of the humerus refers to the forward displacement of our humeral head relative to the glenoid , which visually gives people a feeling of buckling the shoulders and holding the chest, but in fact it is not equivalent to the posture of holding the chest.
What causes the humerus to slip forward?
It is common in long-term poor posture and movement , which may cause the anterior part of the joint capsule to relax and the posterior part to shorten, making the humeral head unable to move normally in the glenoid.
Image source: Visual China
The subscapularis muscle is inhibited and weak, and the external rotator of the shoulder is too tense. From a biomechanical point of view, the subscapularis muscle not only rotates the glenohumeral joint internally, but also has an important function, which is to control the backward sliding of the humeral head .
This function antagonizes the forward sliding of the humeral head by the infraspinatus, teres minor, and posterior deltoid.
Image source: Visual China
When our ribcage and scapula are not in the correct position, such as the winged shoulder posture, it is easy to cause the problem of forward humerus.
How is anterior humeral slippage assessed?
1. Place the tips of the thumb and index finger of one hand on the front and back edges of the top of the shoulder, respectively, and then touch the lesser tuberosity and the back of the humeral head with the other hand.
Divide the tip width into 3 equal parts and determine if the humeral head is located in the posterior 1/3 of the tip relative to the tip width . If it is, it is considered normal; if it is greater than one-third, it is considered an anterior displacement of the humerus.
2. It needs to be performed under dynamic conditions, such as straightening the bed with both hands to slowly bending the elbows to support the bed, to see if the displacement of the humeral head exceeds one-third of the volume of the humeral head itself.
How to train the humerus anterior sliding?
After the doctor’s examination, it is determined that the shoulder pain caused by the anterior sliding of the humerus must be reset and treated by the doctor first, and then related training should be carried out. The training methods are as follows:
1. Take a sitting position, take the right side as an example, and do a 90-degree abduction movement. You can put your hands on the foam roller or stick your elbows to the wall to form support.
2. Put the elastic band on the position of the humeral head and fix it, and the left hand assists in tightening the elastic band, so as to pull down and back .
3. Perform external rotation and internal rotation with the right hand, one up and one down for 1 time, repeat 15-20 times/group, 2-3 groups per day.
To sum up, there are some shoulder joint pains and limited activities in life, not only the problem of frozen shoulder and rotator cuff injury, but also whether the shoulder discomfort is caused by the forward sliding of the humerus.