Shoulder Injury Diagnosis

[John Skinner]

Injured my shoulder/upper arm while jerking up to field a ground ball. Have discomfort while catching a ball, using the palm of my hand with pressure ie. washing and drying the body, pulling up my pants. Discomfort while pushing arm back but not forward. Does not hurt doing the breat stroke while swimming. Discomfort is in the bicep and tricep area and sometimes resonates down the arm to the wrist/thumb. Is it rotator cuff or just a wrenched shoulder/arm?

[Heidi]

Hi
Probably rotator cuff but obviously this is difficult to say without an assessment. I would see a sports injury specialist of some kind. Shoulder injuries left untreated can become long-term problems, affect your posture and then cause further back problems.

Until you can see someone I would recommend resting it from aggravating activities as much as possible, but try to keep it moving by doing small circular movements with the arm, gradually increasing the size of the circles.