An alternative approach to the diagnosis and management of non-specific shoulder pain with case examples

Shoulder problems are a common musculoskeletal complaint, which present a difficult diagnostic challenge. Many orthopaedic tests for the shoulder are not specific for any one pathological condition and two or more conditions often co-exist, therefore, it is not surprising that clinicians are often unable to accurately diagnose shoulder joint pathology. Once shoulder pain due to conditions such as tumour, infection, trauma, systemic inflammatory disorders and referred pain from elsewhere has been ruled out, a more global and functional approach to diagnosis and management of non-specific shoulder pain is advocated. This paper presents an alternative diagnostic and therapeutic approach used to manage non-specific shoulder pain illustrated by three cases.