Medical History
The medical history will be essential to reach a diagnosis, and doctors will ask some questions to the patient, including physical activity levels and previous shoulder injuries. To help doctors interpret the data and set up a complete medical history, it is essential to describe shoulder pain as precisely as possible.
The first step of the clinical evaluation is identifying the chief complaint. Maybe shoulder pain is a secondary complaint; the primary source of pain comes from the neck with irradiation to the shoulders. In such cases, neck pain pathologies will be ruled out, especially those related to a pinched nerve and similar issues. Besides pain, the doctor will probably ask about muscle weakness, stiffness of the articulation, or a sensation of locked articulation. They will ask about the duration and intensity of the symptoms throughout time and the possibility that pain results from trauma or forceful movements. In the case of trauma, the type of trauma is also essential to determine the most likely cause of pain.
Other aspects that should be evaluated are aggravating and alleviating factors. In other words, the doctor will try to find out what makes the pain worse and what calms down pain besides medical treatment. Thus, it is a good idea to become aware of your work, sports, hobbies, and recreation to see if any of these make the problem worse. Another possibility is shoulder pain at night when lying on the affected side, which is usually due to a rotator cuff tear in patients over 65 years, and differentiating that from overhead pain in impingement syndrome in younger patients.