What Causes Pain In The Left Shoulder Blade?

Posted on Fri, 5 Jan 2018

Question: my left shoulder hurts from the shoulder blade up the neck and down the left arm. have lost mobility in arm and its painful to sleep at night. I am 58 years old. 5 years ago i had rotator cuff surgery on right arm that could not be repaired tendons or ligaments where as doctor said like old elastic when stretched to reattached they frayed.

Answered by Dr. Dr. Praveen Tayal (8 hours later)

Brief Answer:
Rotator cuff tendonitis or shoulder impingement syndrome

Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thanks for posting your query.
From the symptoms that you have described, it seems to be Rotator cuff tendonitis or shoulder impingement syndrome which causes irritation and inflammation of the rotator cuff and the bursa when doing overhead activity and hence pain. You need to get an MRI scan done which is a more sensitive test for soft tissue and muscular injuries. An Orthopedician is the best person to be consulted.

Here are some general treatment measures which you can follow:

1) Provide complete rest and avoid overhead activities.
2) Apply cold compresses and take some anti inflammatory pain killer after consulting your doctor.

If the symptoms are severe then after confirming the diagnosis by MRI, you may need steroid injections or surgical arthroscopic technique (kept as last resort).

I hope this answers your query.
In case you have additional questions or doubts, you can forward them to me, and I shall be glad to help you out.
Wishing you good health.
Regards.
Dr. Praveen Tayal.
For future query, you can directly approach me through my profile URL http://bit.ly/Dr-Praveen-Tayal

Note: For further queries, consult a joint and bone specialist, an Orthopaedic surgeon. Book a Call now.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar