A young male patient woke with an acute onset of constant, shooting shoulder pain, is painful into abduction, reluctant to lift his arm, and feels like he’s losing shoulder strength. He has no recent history of injury.

Can you diagnose this unusual cause of shoulder pain, based on this patient's symptoms and physical tests? What are your differential diagnoses and red flags to keep in mind with this patient?

In this podcast, Jo Gibson puts your knowledge of shoulder pain and diagnostic skills to the test, and explores how you can treat patients with this diagnosis.

Podcast handout

Free shoulder assessment infographic series

Click here to access the free shoulder infographic series and learn how to easily assess shoulder pain patients with this simple 6-step shoulder assessment from Jo Gibson

Frozen and stiff shoulder assessment & treatment with Jo Gibson

Improve your assessment and treatment of frozen and stiff shoulders now with Jo Gibson’s online course at clinicaledge.co/frozenshoulder

Shoulder: Steps to Success online course with Jo Gibson

Improve your assessment and treatment of shoulder pain with the Shoulder: Steps to Success online course with Jo Gibson, now available for enrolment at clinicaledge.co/shouldersuccess

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Links associated with this episode:

• Improve your assessment and treatment of frozen and stiff shoulders now with Jo Gibson’s online course at clinicaledge.co/frozenshoulder
• Improve your shoulder assessment & treatment with the Shoulder: Steps to Success online course with Jo Gibson
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Articles associated with this episode:

• Download the podcast handout to receive the articles associated with this podcast.

• Clarke CJ, Torrance E, McIntosh J, Funk L. Neuralgic amyotrophy is not the most common neurologic disorder of the shoulder: a 78-month prospective study of 60 neurologic shoulder patients in a specialist shoulder clinic. Journal of shoulder and elbow surgery. 2016 Dec 1;25(12):1997-2004.

• Cup EH, Ijspeert J, Janssen RJ, Bussemaker-Beumer C, Jacobs J, Pieterse AJ, van der Linde H, van Alfen N. Residual complaints after neuralgic amyotrophy. Archives of physical medicine and rehabilitation. 2013 Jan 1;94(1):67-73.

• DO MAGDALIA PB. Neuralgic Amyotrophy. Challenging Neuropathic Pain Syndromes: Evaluation and Evidence-Based Treatment. 2017 Nov 12:197.

• Feinberg JH, Nguyen ET, Boachie‐Adjei K, Gribbin C, Lee SK, Daluiski A, Wolfe SW. The electrodiagnostic natural history of parsonage–turner syndrome. Muscle & nerve. 2017 Oct;56(4):737-43.

• Lustenhouwer R, Cameron IG, van Alfen N, Oorsprong TD, Toni I, van Engelen BG, Groothuis JT, Helmich RC. Altered sensorimotor representations after recovery from peripheral nerve damage in neuralgic amyotrophy. Cortex. 2020 Feb 28.

• Seror P. Neuralgic amyotrophy. An update. Joint Bone Spine. 2017 Mar 1;84(2):153-8.