Having written ‘Blog’ on my hand, The pressure was on to write one tonight before I forgot, yet again. At the end of a 10 hour day, my brain was not at it’s sharpest and the only thing that came to mind was that the last two dogs for the day were both for sore shoulders. One was now better since I first saw the dog with this problem a month ago and the second was a first visit that had been a niggling lameness for the last month or so.

Googling ‘medial shoulder instability’, I came up with lots of images of xrays, surgery, shoulder strapping and hobbles. Cortisone injections into the joint are also commonly performed.

Rehabilitation and biomechanical assessment and treatment are very useful tools for this problem. If the chest, backbone and ribs are tight, something else compensates by loosening up. This is often the shoulder joint and then leads to pain and instability. Treating this dysfunction and then strengthening the shoulder muscles work quite well in my hands. There are a number of specific exercises I give to my clients but one of the most effective is wading. Shoulder deep in still water daily will make the front legs push against the water while cushioning the joint against impact. Sometimes this can take a few months to gradually improve; I warm my clients that they can get sick of it before it gets better. It’s definitely worth considering.

Uno, my ‘special’ cross eyed boy is keeping an eye on my blog (the other is looking over my shoulder). I haven’t taken any great photos of medial shoulder instability but this will do instead.