Shoulder Injury

Do You Have a Shoulder Injury?

Shoulder injuries can be a painful, chronic, frustrating problem. If you have sustained a shoulder injury and some sort of accident, there is some information you should have so that you can make good decisions and protect your rights.

Anyone with a shoulder problem can tell you that a bad shoulder makes it almost impossible to get a good night sleep.  Even if the injured shoulder is your offhand, we don’t realize how many things require two hands in our daily lives until one shoulder is in the sling. Shoulder injuries are no joke.

I see lots of clients with shoulder injuries. They can be more complicated than they first seem.

Shoulder Anatomy

The shoulder joint is a very strong and durable joint. But if it gets hit were twisted in the wrong way, they can stop working the right way.

Typical shoulder injuries can be a torn rotator cuff, frozen shoulder, dislocated shoulder, or even shoulder fracture.

While a torn rotator cuff or dislocated shoulder usually involves at least a moderate amount of force from a car crash or a fall, these injuries can result from the harm being twisted were put in a bad position when a lower amount of force is applied.

When it comes to shoulder fractures, these almost always result from a high force incident like a violent fall or a serious car crash, or a fall from height like you see in a structured accident case. Shoulder fracture case is almost always come along with a broken arm and other serious injuries.

Treatment of Shoulder Injuries

In the case of a fracture (broken bone), doctors can diagnose these right away. So this means immobilization and possibly surgery depending on which bones are broken and whether the fracture is displaced (parts of the bone are out of position) or nondisplaced (bones are more or less in anatomical alignment).

Things get tricky fast, though, with shoulder injuries that don’t come along with a fractured bone. Usually, doctors will prescribe pain medication and immobilization or depend on the injury, they may order pain medicine and start you on physical therapy right away.

The problem is, shoulder injuries are often accompanied by neck injuries. There is a thing that most people don’t know about called “referred pain”. That means pain in one part of your body is caused by a problem in a different part of your body. Here, we are talking about a pinched nerve in your neck causing you shoulder pain.

Curing both the shoulder and neck injury can take a lot of time. Making sure your doctor documents all your injuries – both your neck and your shoulder complaints – is very important. That’s because defense lawyers hired by the insurance company to defeat your claim tried to make it seem like you are lying to the doctor if you’re shoulder injury actually results from a neck injury. It sounds silly, but it is an argument which works in front of the jury sometimes.

I have had dozens and dozens of clients who had terrible shoulder pain but the doctors couldn’t find anything wrong with their shoulder. Then, when the doctor looked at the neck, he or she saw a compressed nerve in the neck which accounted for the shoulder pain.

And in many cases, you have both a neck and shoulder injury, so without fixing both problems, it is impossible to tell whether the neck or the shoulder is causing the shoulder problems.

What a Shoulder Injury Means for You

Your shoulder injury might be minor and temporary. The whole thing might be over in a couple of weeks or months.

Or, you could be looking at multiple surgeries and a shoulder that is never the same.

The problem, of course, is that you will not know whether you have a more permanent injury at the beginning. Sometimes, people don’t want to make a big deal about a shoulder injury, thinking it will go away on its own. The problem is that if you delay in seeing the doctor, the insurance company defense lawyer will argue that you could’ve hurt your shoulder and some other way, and if you had injured her shoulder in the accident, why didn’t you go to the doctor right away?

Again, not really a fair argument, that it is one which is allowed in Illinois courts and sometimes, Juries believe it.

It is a smart move for you to consult with a shoulder injury lawyer because they offer free case evaluation so it costs you nothing.

I am available to speak with you and answer your questions if you would like.

It is my sincere hope that this information has helped you. If I can help, please let me know. Good luck.