Shoulder and neck pain can result from traumatic events such as a car crash, but one of the most common causes for non-traumatic shoulder and neck pain is a head-forward posture many people adopt in their workstations, says Phillip Hughes, a physiotherapist and president of Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy Australia.
Athletes whose sport involve throwing and tradies whose jobs require them to hold their hands over their head for a long time are also at risk of neck and shoulder pain, he says. “Excessive overhead activities can cause what we call a tendinopathy of the rotator cuff tendons, and that can lead to tearing of those tendons and significant pain.”
