Good food, pure water, and fresh air are necessary, particularly in the
anemic. Right living and correct environment are always in order.
Painful Shoulders
Under this heading may come a variety of conditions affecting one or
both shoulders causing much distress and, at times, total disability.
The conditions may be the result of direct injury to the joint,
systemic, or from spinal lesions. Anatomically the shoulder offers
frequent opportunity to injury as it has the greatest range of motion
of any joint, is least secure in its articulation, and is most
vulnerable from location. Once the shoulder has been dislocated it
is rarely back to normal functioning again as this injury tears the
capsular ligament and stretches the structures in relation. Many times
there is only a =subluxation= in which the head of the humerus is
driven upwards in the fossa, usually from a fall or blow on the point
of the elbow. As a rule, after such an accident, the only thing done
is to rest the joint and apply a liniment and, after a time, begin
the use of the arm. It is, however, painful and to save himself, the
patient each time restricts movement until he reaches a point where he
is unable to dress without assistance. It is then found that normal
motion is reduced fully one-half and even this will be accompanied
by pain on movement and in bed. A radiograph will, usually, show the
condition. Articular crepitus and fibrous adhesions are present while
the adjoining structures have undergone changes so that a reduction is
impossible without certain preparation. Very often a trivial cause will
disable a joint; a sudden movement which finds the muscles about the
shoulder unprepared and the resulting lesion is so slight as to, often,
defy detection. At first there will be swelling and pain but, in time,
it settles down to a limited motion with more or less distress.
=Bursitis.=—This is a condition in which the subdeltoid bursa is
involved or where there have been a number of bursæ formed from
overuse of the joint. One authority reports as many as twenty-five
in a shoulder. There may be, also, tenosynovitis primarily or from
extension. These conditions may not be easily diagnosed at first.
=Brachial neuritis= (chronic) beginning with or without an acute attack
is usually from a cervical lesion involving the brachial plexus but
most frequently it is the 5th and 6th cervicals at the origin of the
circumflex nerve. From this the deltoid is particularly affected and
its contraction leads to pressure on the nerve and subsequent partial
or complete paralysis. Brachial neuritis is found in an increasing
number of osteopathic practicians and is the result of overwork of the
arms and to strain of the upper dorsals and lower cervicals. There are
contractions of structures about the joint constantly limiting motion
and pain when a strain is put on them.
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