Why shoulder pain at night

Pressure for prolonged periods throughout the night puts direct compression on the subacromial joint space and compresses this inflamed tissue and bursa. Uncontrolled movements of the arm or sleeping with your arm across your chest or above your head for extended periods abnormal positions are other factors that may contribute to more pain at night and after sleeping. Going to sleep with shoulder pain is difficult and certainly if you wake due to shoulder pain, falling back asleep can be very troublesome.

Resting your shoulder during day may reduce the inflammation, reducing the pain enough that you can sleep. Taking tablets that help reduce pain and inflammation analgesics and anti-inflammatories can also assist in reducing pain during the night. Taking the tablets well before night time is advisable to allow enough time for them to work. If you wake up with a shoulder that hurts after directly lying on the shoulder, try sleeping on the opposite side. Try placing a pillow behind you to stop you rolling over while sleeping on your affected shoulder and changing sides with your bed partner depending on which shoulder is involved.

Sleeping propped up on a few pillows or on a special bed that has you a bit upright might also stop you rolling over onto the painful shoulder. Doing some light stretching might also help to relieve shoulder pain. It may relax some of the tight muscles around the shoulder and also allowing the space to open up in the shoulder enough so that the pain reduces and you can try to get back to sleep.

Living with shoulder pain, especially if it wakes you up at night or makes sleep difficult, is challenging. If your shoulder pain persists for a period of a few weeks or worsens it is recommended to seek consultation and treatment. More worrying signs that may present with pain include weakness, loss of movement or instability.

These additional symptoms warrant more expedient investigation. The first step would be to see your family doctor who will ask you specific questions and examine your shoulder to narrow the diagnosis as well as order specific tests to help work out what is wrong with your shoulder. Additional investigations to assess the soft tissues, including the rotator cuff tendons and the bursa, might include an ultrasound scan or an MRI magnetic resonance imaging scan. Depending on what is found during these consultations your doctor might suggest an injection into your shoulder with corticosteroid to help reduce inflammation and pain and a period of rest.

Seeing your physiotherapist for exercises to help settle the symptoms and then strengthen your shoulder is also a good option.

If your symptoms persist despite these treatments, or if they worsen, your family doctor may suggest a review with a specialist shoulder orthopaedic surgeon for further treatment options.

Surgical options to help alleviate the pain and improve your shoulder function depend on the diagnosis. Most of this surgery can be performed using keyhole or arthroscopic methods.

They include removing the inflamed bursa, removing bone spurs and reattaching torn rotator cuff tendons. If your shoulder pain is from a condition called adhesive capsulitis frozen shoulder , your shoulder surgeon can release tight and inflamed structures ligaments and capsule in your shoulder that cause the pain and stiffness.

Lastly, if your pain is due to severe arthritis, a shoulder replacement might be a good option to treat your pain and improve your shoulder range of motion and power. Shoulder exercise photos provided by ActiveCare Physical Therapy. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Hit enter to search or ESC to close. Gaining an accurate and timely diagnosis is crucial to accessing the most appropriate treatment options. Accurately diagnosing the cause of your night pain is a complex procedure which is routinely conducted by a physiotherapist , orthopaedic consultant or G.

Assessment starts with a clinical interview, used to understand your symptoms. Your clinician will also complete a series of clinical tests designed to pin point your pain causing structures. This may provoke your symptoms for a short period however, it helps the clinician understand your situation better. Unfortunately, research has revealed that clinical tests for the shoulder are not specific enough to accurately diagnose the cause of pain.

A formal diagnosis for shoulder pain can only be made using diagnostic imaging. Diagnostic ultrasound has been proven to be as effective as MRI for assessing shoulder injuries, including tendons, muscles and bursa small friction reducing washers located at high pressure points throughout the body.

Diagnostic ultrasound can quickly and accurately assess for swelling and inflammation in the shoulder. At Complete our highly experienced team of clinicians are dual trained physiotherapists and musculoskeletal sonographers. An assessment by one of our team involves a clinical interview, physical examination and a formative musculoskeletal diagnostic ultrasound scan.

Once a formal diagnosis has been made your clinician will be able to advise you on the most effective, evidence-based treatment options available. The majority of patients suffering from night pain respond positively to a combination of analgesic medication please consult your GP or pharmacist before starting any medication and a course of physiotherapy. Physiotherapy uses a combination of manual therapy techniques and individualised rehabilitation exercises to help reduce your symptoms, manage pain flares, and allow you to return to the activities that you love.

If Physiotherapy, the advice highlighted above, and over the counter pain medication is unsuccessful then a steroid injection may be appropriate. Corticosteroid injections, a potent anti-inflammatory medication, is a highly effective technique used to reduce pain associated with inflammation.

Research states that steroid injections are highly accurate and effective when administered under ultrasound guidance. To ensure you get the best outcomes possible all our injection procedures are ultrasound guided.

All our clinicians are fully qualified to advise you on the most effective medication and prescribe it for you all in the same appointment.

When the shoulder stiffness is recognized the first treatment measure I recommend is a prolonged passive stretching program. The exercise routine needs to be effective, safe and easy to do. The maneuvers do not need to be too forceful but they do need to be prolonged. The longer you hold the stretch the more effective you will be at improving shoulder motion.

Please follow the instructions closely and repeat the stretches daily. You can do these exercises on your own. Unless you have had recent shoulder surgery or you suffer from instability these stretches are safe. They are usually are okay even if you have had rotator cuff tear surgery. Start the exercises slow. The longer you hold the stretch position the better it is for you. Sometimes the shoulder will ache for a few minutes after the exercise. It can also occur following a trauma or injury.

Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. Mental Health. Medically reviewed by Brenda B. Spriggs, M. Can your sleeping position cause shoulder pain? Rotator cuff injury. Shoulder bursitis. Shoulder impingement syndrome. Osteoarthritis of the shoulder. Frozen shoulder. What is the best way to sleep if your shoulder hurts?

Prevention tips. When to see your doctor. The bottom line. Read this next. How to Fall Asleep in 10, 60, or Seconds. Medically reviewed by Deborah Weatherspoon, Ph. Medically reviewed by Timothy J.

Legg, Ph. Medically reviewed by Debra Rose Wilson, Ph. All About Bone Spurs in Shoulders.