Shoulder, Elbow and Wrist Pain

What is causing the pain?

Think about the tasks that make up the majority of your day-to-day life. It is often said that life in the 21st century is way easier on the body than life during any other time in human history — and it’s true that there is a fair amount of evidence to support this idea. Rather than spending all of your days working in a factory or on a farm, the vast majority of Americans work indoors, often at a computer for a predetermined number of hours week after week. But this new lifestyle isn’t exactly harmless for the body, either.

Sedentary lifestyles frequently contribute to weight gain, which increases your risk for a long list of obesity-related diseases. This puts additional stress on your body, which could result in pain in crucial joints like your shoulders, elbows and yes, even your wrists. While it is sometimes possible to take action to prevent an injury from developing, it is especially important to be able to recognize when an injury develops and to understand ways that you can combat that injury by identifying what may have caused the pain to develop in the first place. Common issues that can lead to shoulder, elbow, and wrist pain include:

• Issues with poor posture
• Carpal tunnel syndrome, which can develop from overuse of the wrist and regular, repetitive motions, such as typing
• Heavy lifting
• Athletic injuries
• Muscle sprain
• Muscle strain
• Dislocation or hyperextension of the joints