The shoulder is a complex, movable joint involved in most sports that include motions like swinging, passing, throwing and shooting (as in basketball) and many physical work activities from pushing a lawnmower to shoveling snow. There are all kinds of activities, work and play, that may lead to shoulder pain.

You don’t have to be all that active to find yourself nursing a painful shoulder. There are several injuries or ailments that develop while you sleep, and the shoulder is one of the most susceptible to the strain and pain that may develop over days, months and years when you think you’re safe and sound while sleeping. Injury may occur from merely sleeping on your side, your upper body weight compressing an immobile shoulder. Even just resting your head atop your shoulder like an intermediary pillow night after night, may result in pain and strain when you compile hundreds, even thousands, of hours of what should be rest and rehabilitation.

It may also contribute to rotator cuff tendonitis or bursitis, worsening it to the point that you can barely lift your arm to shoulder level. It is caused by the tendons that contribute to the mobility and strength of the shoulder trapped under the bony area in the joint.

Physical therapy is a favored approach to easing the pain and recovering mobility. If one of the rotator muscles is torn and/or severely strained, many physicians and surgeons prescribe physical therapy.

Much shoulder damage is cumulative, so aging is a contributing factor for what is considered a lifestyle ailment. It is safe to say that most shoulder injuries occur suddenly due to an accident such as a fall, while roughhousing or when involved in sports or otherwise healthful physical activity.

A typical symptom of injury to one or more of these stabilizing muscles between the arm and shoulder is pain when twisting the arm or raising it upward. The most debilitating is what is known as a frozen shoulder, the result of muscles, tendons, and ligaments in the shoulder stiffening, making movement difficult and painful. These symptoms can be averted or alleviated by physical therapy.

While it is true that some shoulder injuries may require surgery, physical therapy is commonly prescribed by orthopedic surgeons before surgery as a boost to postoperative healing. It is then resumed after surgery.

The knee is the most commonly replaced joint in the United States, with slightly more than one out of every ten people undergoing what is known as a total knee arthroplasty by the age of 80— almost double the number of total hip replacements at that age. It is well documented that aggressive physical therapy after this surgery is the difference between success and failure in the eventual outcome and, if incomplete, may result in chronic knee pain and a joint that doesn’t bend or twist naturally.

We know that chiropractic care has been effective against virtually every bodily pain that comes to mind, and that includes back and neck pain, joint pain, arm pain, leg pain and shoulder pain. However, when we think of headaches, we think about over-the-counter pain relievers as remedies or sequestering ourselves in a quiet, dark room until they go away.

The “ache” in headache is clearly a misnomer, because this is one ache that can be a real pain. Make that an excruciating pain, with the worst type of all being a migraine headache. There are very few of us who haven’t experienced a headache now and again, and, according to the World Health Organization, as many as half of the world’s population experience headaches every year. Severe headaches and migraine headaches aren’t worldwide killers on the scale of cancer, heart disease, strokes or even Alzheimer’s, but they can lead to strokes and even suicide.

In the first month of a new year, especially one on the heels of a pandemic that is still plaguing the land and, at the same time, complicated by historic social and political strife, you may want to curl up in a ball until it all goes away. The problem is that inactivity, lack of human contact and being exposed to the same sights, sounds and people every day is simply not healthy.

It can all become a deep daily rut from which you cannot seem to escape. Boredom and ennui in huge doses not only lead to lethargy and depression, blunting your mental acuity, but they also have their physical repercussions, capable of transforming an active, reasonably healthy person into a physical wreck.

Kinesio® Taping is a registered trademark — because of the process, which is a rehabilitative technique or method, but also because of the tape itself. Knowing how to use that tape to promote healing, ease pain of injury and improve strength is, in itself, a healthcare specialty. It is effective on virtually any person of any age and utilized or prescribed by pediatricians, family physicians and geriatricians.