Trigger point · Shoulders

Supraspinatus TrP1

A deep ache at the point of the shoulder that runs down the outside of the arm and stops at the elbow. This point sits in the trough above the ridge of the shoulder blade, buried under the trapezius, and it produces the pattern that gets diagnosed as a rotator cuff tear: deep shoulder pain, worse reaching up, worse at night. What makes the record worth reading is the far end of the referral. It reaches the outer point of the elbow. A client with an aching lateral elbow, no elbow findings and a tender supraspinatus is being treated for tennis elbow they do not have — and this is one of the more satisfying corrections a therapist can make, because the elbow will not respond to anything done to the elbow.