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Painful Calculus Physiotherapy can relieve pain
Complaints in the shoulder, such as shoulder punctures are truly unpleasant. But who once had a Kalkschulter knows of truly unbearable pain to report. Even the smallest movements can hurt like hell. Those affected can be helped with medication and physiotherapy.
Complaints can take a long time
Discomfort in the shoulder can be not only very painful, but sometimes very tedious. For example, a "frozen shoulder" often heals by itself, but can also last for many years. Even with the so-called Calcarea (also called Tendinosis Calcarea or Tendinitis Calcarea), the symptoms can last a very long time. The pain that can occur is often unbearable for those affected. However, they can be helped. The news agency dpa reports on the illness that often affects middle-aged women.
Pain due to a so-called calculus shoulder. Image: underdogstudios - fotolia Like a knife stab in the shoulder
A victim, Sabine Hübsch, reported in the agency message on her experiences: As she sits in front of the TV and wants to enjoy her after work, she suddenly has a feeling as if someone stabbed her with a knife in the shoulder. Or as if you get with a stun gun thousands of electric shocks. "Anyway, it felt like a combination of both," she recalls. "It started with a pounding, pulling pain. Within a few minutes he became stronger and stronger. "It was not over, the pain came on the following days as well. "In ever shorter intervals, until I could not stand it any longer." When Hübsch finally went to the orthopedist and was X-rayed, it turned out: The cause of the pain was a Kalkschulter.
Pain in over-head movements
"In a calcar shoulder is not the shoulder joint itself affected, but it comes to limescale in the surrounding shoulder tendons," said Prof. Klaus Fritsch, specialist in orthopedics and trauma surgery from Bayreuth to the dpa. The Kalkdepots are often in the so-called rotator cuff. "The tendons of this muscle complex have limited space between the roof of the shoulder and the humerus. The lime deposits irritate and thicken the tendons, making it even tighter in the room. "These and other shoulder pains often occur during the night. In addition, sufferers complain of over-head movements such as hang curtains or light bulbs screw in often pain that radiate flat to the upper arm and often to the elbow. Pains in lifting the arm, which often radiate from the shoulder joint, but may also have various other causes.
Cause of a calculus shoulder is largely unknown
A calcar shoulder usually occurs between the age of 35 and 50 years. The causes are so far largely unknown. "Although it is believed that a lack of blood flow and thus an oxygen deficiency in the shoulder tendons lead to a conversion of cells, but you just do not know it," said Prof. Ulrich Brunner of the German Association for Shoulder and Elbow Surgery in Würzburg. The diagnosis Kalkschulter is often a coincidental finding in X-rays. "Limestone deposits in the shoulder tendons do not necessarily lead to discomfort and in these cases require no therapy," says Brunner. Even if complaints occur with a calcar shoulder, they often have little effect over a long period of time. "All of a sudden, you may also experience massive pain lasting up to two weeks," explained Fritsch. In such cases, the lime dissolves by itself, breaks out of the tendon and penetrates into the adjacent bursa, which has a bursitis result.
"If the pain is so acute, the therapy usually consists of anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen or diclofenac," explained Fritsch. "But you should not use them for more than a week without a doctor, as they can affect, for example, the stomach lining, liver and kidney and blood pressure and cardiovascular." If such remedies do not help, the treating physician can also strong effective cortisone in the bursa splash.
Kalkschulter usually remains a "unique experience"
In addition to medicines can be of concern for sufferers physiotherapy. "Physiotherapeutic exercises can extend the space under the shoulder roof slightly and thus reduce the pressure on the tendons, which are widened by the lime," explained Prof. Sven Ostermeier of the joint clinic Gundelfingen in Freiburg im Breisgau. Another possibility is physical applications intended to stimulate the circulation of the shoulder tendons and the removal of lime by the vessels. "For example, when the physiotherapist applies a massager to the shoulder and neck muscles, which applies mechanical vibrations to the deeper tissue." In addition, those affected can try a shock wave therapy. The doctor directs high-energy ultrasonic waves specifically on the affected shoulder. "By an abrupt increase in pressure, they smash the lime deposits and promote blood circulation, so that the limestones can be better degraded and excreted by the surrounding tissue," said Ostermeier.
However, the treatment costs are not covered by many statutory health insurance. Also, an operation, the shoulder arthroscopy, is available. In the keyhole procedure, the limescale deposits can be removed, and possibly the irritated bursa. "This is usually the last option for stubborn cases, when all other therapies have not brought the desired result," said Ostermeier. After such an intervention sufferers should protect their shoulders for about three weeks and later begin with physiotherapy. "Once the calculus shoulder has healed, it usually does not come back and remains a unique event for most sufferers." (Ad)