Shoulder, elbow

and wrist pain

Pain through the arm that makes reaching,
gripping or
lifting harder than it should be. Open
until 7pm
weeknights and Saturday mornings.

Book an appointment

WorkCover accepted
Over 10 years in practice
Health fund claims on the spot

WorkCover accepted
Over 10 years in practice
Health fund claims on the spot

WorkCover accepted
Over 10 years in practice
Health fund claims on the spot

WorkCover accepted
Over 10 years in practice
Health fund claims on the spot

Shoulder, elbow and wrist pain most
often comes from repetitive load rather

than a single injury. Common
presentations include shoulder
impingement
and bursitis, tennis and
golfer’s elbow, and carpal tunnel.
Chiropractic care is
one of the
treatments used, combining hands on
treatment of the affected
tissue with
changes to the load causing it.

Why upper limb pain

is so often work related

Upper limbs account for 32 per cent of
work related musculoskeletal disorder claims in

Australia, and together with back claims make
up 66 per cent of all serious claims of that
type,
according to Safe Work Australia.

Repetitive load is the common thread. The
same pattern that causes it at
work causes it at
home, which is why most people with tennis
elbow have never played tennis.

What it usually feels like

Shoulder: when the shoulder muscles and joints
do not work together, this leads to joint
inflammation, bursitis and even muscle tears,
which causes pain.

Elbow: golfer’s elbow and tennis elbow are the
two most common arm injuries we see, triggered
by repetitive micro trauma that leaves the
muscles around the forearm irritated and
inflamed.

Wrist: the most common causes are carpal
tunnel, joint sprains and muscle strains, generally
the result of direct trauma or overuse.

COMMON SIGNS

Pain reaching overhead or behind your back

Pain on the outside or inside of the elbow
when gripping

Weakness in your grip, dropping things

Pins and needles into the thumb, index or
middle finger

Night pain in the shoulder, particularly lying on
that side

Pain that started gradually with no single injury

Three areas, three
different patterns

Shoulder

Usually pain reaching overhead, or at night lying on that side. Often impingement or bursitis, where the tendons are being compressed in a joint that is not moving well.

Elbow

Pain on the outside of the elbow is tennis elbow, on the inside is golfer's elbow. Both come from repetitive forearm load and both are usually worse with gripping.

Wrist and Hand

Pins and needles into the thumb and first two fingers points towards carpal tunnel. Pain without the pins and needles is more often a joint sprain or tendon strain.

Book an appointment

When it is worth having
looked at

Repetitive strain problems rarely settle on their
own while the
load continues. It is worth
having examined if it has lasted more
than a
few weeks, if it is affecting your grip, if it
is waking you at
night, or if it is stopping you
doing your job.

SEE A DOCTOR PROMPTLY, NOT A
CHIROPRACTOR, IF YOU HAVE

An arm injury following a significant fall, an
obvious deformity,
inability to move
the joint at all, sudden severe weakness, or a
hot
swollen joint with fever. These need
medical assessment rather
than
chiropractic treatment.

SEE A DOCTOR PROMPTLY, NOT A
CHIROPRACTOR, IF YOU HAVE

An arm injury following a significant fall, an
obvious deformity,
inability to move
the joint at all, sudden severe weakness, or a
hot
swollen joint with fever. These need
medical assessment rather
than
chiropractic treatment.

How chiropractic care
is used for it

Chiropractic treatment is used to help reduce
common upper limb
symptoms in the
shoulder, elbow and wrist. Chiropractors
examine both
the affected joint and the neck
and upper back, because restriction
further up
can change how load travels down the arm.

Our role is to create a treatment plan for each
person. For the shoulder
that means balancing
the muscles and restoring correct joint

movement. For the elbow, reducing the
irritation is the priority, through
muscle release
technique and rehabilitation. For the wrist, we
work to
restore correct movement at both the
wrist and elbow, which takes
pressure off
the muscles, joints and nerves.

Who treats you

Treatment is provided by Dr George Diab, founder of The Sport and Health Clinic. He holds a Bachelor of Chiropractic Science and a Masters of Chiropractic Science from Macquarie University and has been in practice for over ten years.

Book an appointment

WorkCover accepted
Over 10 years in practice
Health fund claims on the spot

WorkCover accepted
Over 10 years in practice
Health fund claims on the spot

WorkCover accepted
Over 10 years in practice
Health fund claims on the spot

WorkCover accepted
Over 10 years in practice
Health fund claims on the spot

What happens when you come in

We talk

You tell us what is going on, how long it has been happening, and what makes it worse. We ask about your work setup and how you sleep. An initial consultation runs 40 minutes.

We examine

A physical examination of the neck and upper back to find where movement is restricted, rather than treating the sore spot on its own.

We explain

We tell you what we think is going on and what we would do about it before we do anything. Standard consultations after that run 20 minutes.

Questions we get asked

Yes, and most people who have it do not play tennis. Tennis elbow comes from repetitive load through the forearm, which is just as easily a keyboard, a screwdriver, a steering wheel or a hairdryer. The name describes the pattern of strain rather than the cause.

Problems caused by repetitive load often take longer than people expect, because the load usually continues while you are being treated. If you use that arm at work every day, that matters. We will be straight with you about timeframes rather than promising a quick fix.

Often you can, with the load modified rather than stopped. We will go through which movements to change and which to avoid for now, because completely resting an arm you need for work is rarely realistic and is not always the fastest way back.

Tennis elbow is pain on the outside of the elbow, golfer’s elbow on the inside. Both come from repetitive forearm load and both are usually worse with gripping. They are treated similarly but the muscles involved differ, which changes which exercises help.

It can be. Nerves supplying the arm come from the neck, so restriction or irritation there can produce pain, weakness or pins and needles further down. This is why we examine the neck and upper back as well as the joint that hurts.

If the injury happened at work, yes. Upper limb strain is one of the most common work related claims in Australia. We treat WorkCover NSW patients, so bring your claim number and your employer or insurer details to your first appointment.

WorkCover accepted
Over 10 years in practice
Health fund claims on the spot

WorkCover accepted
Over 10 years in practice
Health fund claims on the spot

WorkCover accepted
Over 10 years in practice
Health fund claims on the spot

WorkCover accepted
Over 10 years in practice
Health fund claims on the spot

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