Some Shoulder Injuries Are More Common in Women; Here's How to Treat Them

Shoulder injuries can be debilitating, and there are certain shoulder injuries that doctors see more often in women than men.

According to Gregory V. Gasbarro, M.D.—a board-certified, shoulder-fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeon at The Shoulder, Elbow, Wrist and Hand Center at Mercy and medical director of Mercy’s Joint Journey for Shoulder Replacement Surgery—one of those injuries is frozen shoulder.

With frozen shoulder, Dr. Gasbarro says, you lose your range of motion, which can be extremely painful. It’s usually related to an endocrine disorder. Dr. Gasbarro also sees multidirectional instability, especially in younger patients, when the ball in your shoulder socket is loose.

Genetics come into play with the injury, and there is one other injury that is more specific to women.

“Another thing we see, which is an overuse type injury, is something called scapular dyskinesia, which are just fancy words for the wing bone not really working the right way as we move our arm,” Dr. Gasbarro said. “And a lot of patients come in with that particular condition with pain. And this muscle, which is the trapezius, if you think about that, that’s the muscle that deals with a lot of posture-type problems.”

For the condition, Dr. Gasbarro said strength training is really important, as well as working on your posture. With all three conditions, physical therapy is atop the list of things he recommends.

View Mercy orthopedic surgeon and shoulder specialist Dr. Gregory Gasbarro’s interview regarding women and shoulder issues.