3 Quick Tests for Shoulder Pain

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Hey, guys! This is Dr. David from El Paso Manual Physical Therapy here. I’m going to share three tests that you can do in under a minute. They’ll be able to tell you if you’ve got some sort of rotator cuff problem.

This is Dr. David from El Paso Manual Physical Therapy! I’m going to share three tests that you can do in under a minute. They’ll be able to tell you if you’ve got some sort of rotator cuff problem.

I’m going to share 3 tests that you can in under a minute. They’ll be able to tell you if you’ve got some sort of rotator cuff problem.

They’ll be able to tell you if you’ve got a rotator cuff problem.


Test #1:

If you have pain in your right shoulder, reach your hand all the way up.

Really stretch out and then come back down.

Normally, you should be able to complete that motion without any pain, but if you’ve got some pain either on the way up (or even on the way down) that’s a high probability that you’ve got a rotator cuff problem.

Test #2:

Reach behind your back.

Reach out as far back as you can go like you’re trying to scratch an itch.

If you feel some pain here in the shoulder, that’s another sign that you may have a rotator cuff problem.

If you compare your other side, you might be able to go higher on the side that doesn’t hurt and not as high on the side that is painful.

That’s another piece of the puzzle here that you want to connect.

Test #3:

Poke it.

Dig around in the shoulder.

Of course, if you poke anything hard enough, it’s going to hurt.

Compare side to side and try to give pretty equal pressure.

If you poke around, especially in the front area or the corner around the edges of the bones in the shoulder it might be tender.

If it’s a more painful compared to the other side, then that’s another sign that you’ve got a rotator cuff problem.


Guys, check this out on yourself.

It doesn’t mean you need to go to the doctor right away, it just means,

“Hey, watch out. Maybe you need to slow down with your activities”.

If this has been going on for a while, maybe it’s time get it taken care of.

You’re welcome to reach out to us if you have any questions.

You can direct message us, private message us, comment below if you want to start a conversation with us, We’ll take it to a private message, or you’re welcome to give us a call.

Talk to your doctor at the very least.

See if there’s something that you can do in the short term to make sure that this isn’t going to get any worse on you.

I hope these tips help guys.

Have a wonderful day.

How To Tell If You’ve Got A Rotator Cuff Tear