Delta pain

Deltoid pain is pain in the deltoid muscle, which is abbreviated as delta. The causes can be quite serious injuries to the shoulder or arm, swelling in the shoulder, improper exercise performance, and much more. In any case, you need to see an orthopedic doctor or traumatologist to find out the causes of deltoid pain and deal with them.

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What are the causes of deltoid pain?

The muscular nerve is damaged (it is called a mixed nerve)

The motor fibers of this nerve can innervate the delta and teres minor muscles. The nerve roots become sensitive in the area of the superior lateral cutaneous nerve located in the shoulder. The skin in the shoulder area may hurt.

The muscular nerve can also be affected in the fossa above the collarbone, and the musculocutaneous nerve begins to be involved in this process, which can cause Erb's palsy. The shoulder becomes impossible to lower or raise due to the paralyzed muscles. Skin sensitivity is also impaired, especially on the outer part of the shoulder.

Why do such injuries occur?

These injuries can most often occur in power athletes or people who do heavy manual labor. Because the arms and shoulders work the most, and the work is done under great stress. Bodybuilders can get pain in the deltoid when working on pumping up the chest. Pain can occur during or after bench press exercises or presses, which are done on an incline bench. Exercises for breeding arms and lifting arms with weights can also be the cause of such painful discomfort in the deltoid.

But does that mean that after such painful sensations you can't do strength exercises to pump up your chest? Not at all. You just need to do such exercises correctly. And you will achieve the desired result without pain in the delta. First of all, before doing the exercise you need to stretch and warm up the tendons of the shoulders and arms.

In addition, you can't use a very wide grip when doing bench presses. It's better to do it at shoulder width or wider, but only a little bit. And you also need to move your elbows correctly. They need to be moved back so that the point of contact with the chest of the bench and the hands are on one straight line, which is located directly under the weight.

When the chest contact passes below the point of contact, or your elbows are brought closer to the torso, you need to transfer the emphasis of the weight to the tendons of the anterior deltoid muscles and the biceps ligament from the chest area.

If the biceps tendon comes out of place during training, any load, even a small one, can provoke its friction against the bone mass, and then inflammation occurs and a swelling can develop in the deltoid.

A ligament that is swollen cannot go back because it has become too thick. And any physical activity makes this process very painful and difficult. And then you get what is called a self-perpetuating injury, when the ligament and bone themselves cause pain due to constant friction against each other.

If the athlete does not pay attention and continues to train despite the pain in the delta, he may soon experience pain in the entire upper body and any movement becomes impossible. The reason is the destabilization of the joint capsule of the entire shoulder. In severe anomalies, the ligament can even rub a new bed in the bone, which is located close to the natural one - this can be clearly seen on X-rays.

What is delta?

The deltoid muscle, or delta, is a thick and large muscle. It originates from the collarbone with the shoulder blade, behind the shoulder, and continues to the place where it is attached, that is, to the top of the forearm. This muscle is like a three-headed snake - three-headed, but there is no need to be afraid of it at all. Except when it hurts. The delta consists of three bundles. The bundles are divided into the front, back and the one in the middle - the middle. For this three-bundle structure, the delta got its name. And also for the amazing similarity with the Greek letter delta.

The main role of the delta is to lift a person's arms and allow them to rotate. If this does not happen due to pain, then there are problems with the delta. How does the delta work to lift and rotate the arms? The anterior delta bundle (also called the delta head) allows the arm to rise forward, the middle delta bundle helps to lift the arm to the side, and thanks to the posterior bundle, the arm is pulled back.

The width of the shoulders depends on how the skeleton of the shoulder girdle is built. The square shape of the shoulders, like a champion's, is given by the straightness of the collarbones. And those collarbones that are called oblique, give the shoulders a narrower and sloping configuration. What kind of shoulders a person has depends on nature. But their shape can be changed if you practice and do special exercises. You just need to learn how to train the delta - the deltoid muscle.

The fibers that also connect the spine and actomion of the scapula are attached to the posterior, middle and anterior parts of the muscle. This attachment is called proximal. There is another type of attachment of muscle fibers - distal. In this way, muscle fibers are attached to the humerus, its tuberosity in the form of a delta. The fact that the fibers of the muscles of the middle part are not located in the same way as the fibers of the posterior and anterior regions allows the end plates to be located differently.

Their functions are also different. The upper aspect of the deltoid in its front part covers the head of the humerus bone, thus the upper limb has the ability to bend. The middle part of the deltoid allows the arm to be abducted to the side, and its back part allows the arm to be extended and flexed at the shoulder joint. All three parts of the deltoids allow the arm to be abducted to the side. The front and back parts of the muscle compete as the human arm is extended and flexed. All three parts of the deltoid contract simultaneously, this allows the muscle above the bone to help the arm be abducted to the side at the shoulder.

The front of the deltoid works synergistically, interacting with the pectoralis major (part of its collarbone), the biceps brachii (its long head), and the coracoideus. The deltoid in its back works together with the latissimus dorsi muscle, as well as the long head of the biceps brachii and the teres major.

What movements does the deltoid muscle participate in?

The shoulder can bend with the help of muscles that cross the axis of the shoulder joint across and in front of the deltoid muscle. This group of muscles includes the delta (its anterior part), the large pectoral muscle, the coracoideus muscle of the shoulder, and the biceps brachii.

The muscles that extend the shoulder also cross the axis of the joint transversely, but they lie behind it. This also includes the deltoid muscle, its posterior part, as well as the muscle of the back, which is called the latissimus dorsi, the small teres muscle, as well as the large teres muscle and the triceps muscle - its long head - belong to this group. The muscles that participate in the process of shoulder abduction are able to cross the sagittal axis. They are located from it outward, they are called the spinal muscle and the deltoid muscle.

The so-called pronation of the shoulder is a function of the muscles that cross the axis vertically. This is done by the muscle above the shoulder blades, the muscle of the back, which is called the latissimus dorsi, the large and round muscle, the pectoral muscle (also large), the deltoid muscle in its anterior part.

Referred pain in the delta

It arises from the myoscephalic active trigger areas of the delta. It differs from other types of pain in that it does not spread over a large range. The pain is usually concentrated in any of the three parts of the delta or in all at once. It is quite difficult to find the trigger point, but it is worth knowing that it is most often located in the place where a separate zone of the motor end plate is concentrated.

Long-term pain in the delta (in the area of myofascial points) can occur as a result of an impact injury. Such injuries most often occur during sports competitions or with strong physical strain, during competitions. For example, when a person strongly bent his arm at the shoulder joint. Such pain can also be the result of the introduction of medical preparations under the skin. Then the tissues in the localization of latent trigger points are irritated, and pain in the delta is inevitable. Trigger points that are located not only in the delta, but also in other muscles, especially in the area above the axis, can also cause severe pain in the delta.

The arm is not injured, but the pain in the delta is still bothering me

In these circumstances, when the arm hurts a lot, as if you were bruised, but there was no injury, the cause may be a spasm of the deltoid muscle and pain in it. Spasm may occur with a strong contraction of the delta during training, especially strength training. This may be skiing, lifting a barbell to shoulder level. Pain in the delta can even be caused by everyday reasons: wallpapering, painting walls, especially if the arm has to be raised up. The causes may be injections that irritate the trigger points of the delta, as well as diseases of the bones and joints, such as osteochondrosis or arthrosis.

Tendinitis of the biceps or shoulder

Shoulder or biceps tendonitis can be mistaken for a shoulder injury because the pain is localized there. What is biceps tendonitis? It is the result of the tendon coming out of its bed at the end of the hamstring at the top (this is the largest part of the shoulder). This situation can be resolved in almost all cases - in 95%. A person may feel severe pain in the area of the anterior deltoid (bottom). Therefore, he may think that this pain is caused by an injury. In fact, this is not the case.

A misdiagnosis may be that bursitis is the cause, or the joint capsule on the shoulder girdle may be stretched. But the real cause is a tendon shift. If the tendon is not adjusted and returned to its proper place, the pain continues and increases. If the tendon is shifted from its rightful place, the back and side of the shoulder tendons are under extreme pressure, inflammation develops in them and they bother the person with severe pain. And then the entire shoulder joint can become inflamed.

What to do if a shoulder ligament has slipped out of place?

First, you need to stop abusing your body and temporarily stop training. And also any loads that can cause pain in the delta. Then the swelling needs to be removed with anti-inflammatory drugs, for example, with diclofenac or ibuprofen in the composition. You can also apply ice to the shoulder to reduce the swelling, doing this for about 20 minutes 3 times a day. Swelling in the delta goes down slowly - up to 10 days. During this time, no serious loads are allowed.

When the inflammatory process in the delta is minimal, you can begin to put the ligament back in place. Having put it in place, you need to avoid complex movements for some time, especially overloads. Be careful: when you put the ligament back in place, you cannot do it by rotating your hand back and forth - this will only worsen the situation. In order for the shoulder ligament to be in place, it is necessary to put the upper head of the humeral bone, located under the tendon, in place.

Deltoid pain is a condition that can be caused by a variety of reasons. Therefore, for diagnosis, it is necessary to take an X-ray of the shoulder and, if the cause is a joint or ligament displacement, consult an experienced chiropractor.