A case of non-traumatic shoulder pain
BMJ 2022; 376 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2019-052278 (Published 05 January 2022) Cite this as: BMJ 2022;376:e052278
- Vanya Joshi, specialty training year 2 radiology registrar,
- Thomas Osborne, consultant radiologist,
- Demitrios Tzias, consultant radiologist
- Department of Radiology, Ashford and St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Chertsey, Surrey, UK
- Correspondence to: V Joshi Vanya.joshi{at}nhs.net
A woman in her 40s presented with a three month history of progressive non-traumatic right shoulder pain. She described the pain as a dull and continuous ache and rated its severity as 9 out of 10. Her symptoms were exacerbated when raising her right arm and lying on her right side. The pain interfered with many of her daily activities, in particular cleaning as her profession.
She had no relevant medical or surgical history and was not taking regular prescribed drugs. She used over-the-counter analgesics as required, but they did not alleviate the pain.
Clinical examination revealed substantially reduced movement of the right shoulder to 90° flexion and 90° abduction. Although there was no limitation in passive …
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