Shoulder Instability
The shoulder is a ball-and-socket joint that provides a lot of range of motion and mobility. It provides a lot more mobility than a lot of other joints in the body. Part of the reason behind this is because it has a very shallow socket and relies more on soft-tissue constraints to provide it with stability. Because of this, the shoulder is a little bit more prone to instability, meaning it’s a little bit easier to dislocate than other joints in the body. That could potentially cause problems with the shoulder feeling unstable.
Shoulder instability can affect a large number of people. It can be due to a lot of different causes. Some people are just born with ligaments that are a little bit looser than others, and they’re a little bit more prone to instability. For a lot of people, shoulder instability usually comes after an injury where their shoulder is dislocated, causing some type of structural damage to either the labrum or the rotator cuff that can then lead to recurring instability in the future, potentially.
Treatment of shoulder instability depends very much on the reason why the shoulder is unstable, as well as the particular demands of each patient. Physical therapy is a mainstay of treatment for shoulder instability, but in certain severe cases, surgery can be needed. It’s best, if you have an unstable shoulder, to talk with your physician so they can help you come up with the right treatment plan for you.