Bone Health
 Bone Health > Question and Answer > Pain and Symptoms > Chiropractors > pain after a chiropractor
pain after a chiropractor
9/26 8:50:09

Question
i went to see a chiropractor and he was aligning my spine ,, then he had told me that my shoulder was out of place so he pulled hard on it there was a loud crack and it felt good just right after ,, but now there is a severe burning pain in my shoulder that wont go away . what could cause this ?

Answer
Vanessa,

I don't know what the DC performed on your shoulder, though most shoulder adjustment are not a "pull" but rather are a push from front-to-back through the ball/socket of the shoulder while you are lying on your back.  Was this it?  A method that I don't like at all is where the doctor sits behind you, you bend your elbow and point it forward, and the doctor wraps hands around you and pulls from your elbow. The pull is front to back, into/towards the doctor's chest as he sits behind you.  This is a lousy maneuver that has been passed down over decades and and should be eliminated from the curriculum.   Regardless of how the shoulder was adjusted, burning pain is a sign of joint sprain or muscular strain.  If you are feeling this in the trapezius muscle that connects your neck to the top of your shoulder, then that would most likely indicate muscular strain. If you cannot move your arm overhead, then a sprain is more likely.  The shoulder is one of the most complicated joints in the body, and so many things can get irritated in the joint.  The doctor should go through and examine the shoulder and the surrounding musculature, testing the entire rotator cuff for strength/weakness, performing tests to determine if there is a tear, and assessing commonly irritated items like the bursa or the AC joint.  If it turns out that it's just muscular or "myofascial" strain, then you should find relief with massage and some heat.   The worst case is that the "hard pull" disrupted something in the shoulder, and if your examination points to this, then you must have an MRI of the shoulder to further evaluate it.  

Hope this was helpful.

Dr. G

Copyright © www.orthopaedics.win Bone Health All Rights Reserved