Can Shoulder Pain Impact the Movement of Your Arm?

Shoulder pain can affect how well you can move your arm. When your shoulder hurts, it can make your arm feel weaker and harder to move.

1. Pain and Movement: According to research, pain in the shoulder can make it difficult to move your arm. This is because pain can change how your muscles work or make you less likely to want to move your arm.

2. Strength Reduction: Another study shows that when one shoulder hurts, then often, that arm will be functionally weaker as one will want to not want to push the arm too hard and worsen the pain. This tendancy to "baby" the arm may be intentional or perhaps something happening subconciously and thus, not always obvious to the person effected by shoulder pain. The longer a person goes without using their arm in the proper way or using it enough in general, the more likely they are to develop pain or weakness in that arm over time.

In summary, shoulder pain can make moving your arm difficult because it can lead weakness and maladaptive changes in how your muscles work.