Are You Struggling with Shoulder Pain?
Real relief for rotator cuff injuries, shoulder impingement, and soft tissue pain. From an Active Release Technique specialist with 18 years of experience.
Shoulder pain has a way of showing up at the worst times: mid-rep, mid-game, or in the middle of a night when you can't get comfortable no matter how you lie. If you've been waiting for it to go away on its own, or you've tried rest and it keeps coming back, there's usually a reason. Most shoulder pain isn't a structural problem. It's a soft tissue and nerve problem, and that's exactly what we treat at Adair Chiropractic.
Dr. Karla Adair, D.C. has been an Active Release Technique (ART) provider since 2006. ART is specifically designed to release scar tissue, adhesions, and nerve entrapments in the shoulder: the root causes of rotator cuff injuries, shoulder impingement, and chronic overhead pain. If you're in North Liberty, Iowa City, or anywhere in The Corridor, we'd love to help you get back to moving the way you're meant to.
Shoulder Pain That Won't Go Away Isn't "Normal Aging." It's a Signal.
You pushed through it. You iced it. You took a week off and came back and it was still there. Maybe it's a dull ache at rest that turns sharp when you reach overhead. Maybe your range of motion is getting worse week by week, and you're quietly adjusting how you lift, how you sleep, how you work out.
Here's what most people don't know: the shoulder is one of the most overloaded, under-recovered joints in the body, especially for athletes, desk workers, and anyone doing repetitive overhead movements. The muscles, tendons, and nerves around the shoulder joint are constantly being stressed. When they don't have space to recover, they form scar tissue and adhesions. Those adhesions are what cause the stiffness, the catching sensation, and the pain that comes back even after rest.
The problem isn't your shoulder. It's the tissue around it, and that's fixable.
What's Actually Causing Your Shoulder Pain?
Most shoulder pain falls into a few categories, and all of them respond well to the kind of work we do:
Rotator Cuff Strain or Tear: The rotator cuff is a group of four muscles and tendons that stabilize the shoulder. These get strained through overhead sports, lifting, or repetitive motions. When the cuff is irritated, it pulls unevenly, creating impingement, inflammation, and pain with specific movements.
Shoulder Impingement Syndrome: This happens when tendons or bursa in the shoulder get pinched between the bones. It causes pain when lifting your arm out to the side or overhead, and often aches at night when you lie on the affected side.
Nerve Entrapment: Nerves running through the shoulder and neck can become compressed or tethered by scar tissue. This creates radiating pain, numbness, and tingling that can run down the arm, and it's one of the primary targets of Active Release Technique.
Frozen Shoulder (Adhesive Capsulitis): The shoulder capsule tightens progressively, severely limiting range of motion. ART and manual therapy are among the most effective early interventions to stop this cycle.
Who does best with chiropractic for shoulder pain? Athletes, active adults, and people who use their arms repetitively at work. Anyone whose shoulder pain is related to movement, overuse, or a specific mechanism of injury rather than trauma requiring surgery.
Why Active Release Technique Is Different for Shoulder Pain
Most shoulder treatments focus on the joint itself: adjustments, cortisone injections, or physical therapy targeting specific exercises. These help. But they miss the reason the pain keeps coming back: the soft tissue around the joint.
Active Release Technique (ART) is a patented, movement-based manual therapy that targets the muscles, tendons, fascia, and nerves directly. Here's how it works for the shoulder:
During an ART session, Dr. Adair applies precise tension to the affected tissue while you move your arm through a specific range of motion. This combination breaks down adhesions and scar tissue that have built up in the rotator cuff, biceps tendon, supraspinatus, and the nerves that run through the brachial plexus into the shoulder. The result: improved range of motion, reduced impingement, and pain that actually resolves rather than just temporarily calming down.
Dr. Karla Adair has been ART-certified since 2006, making her one of the longest-tenured ART providers in The Corridor. She graduated with honors from Palmer College of Chiropractic (2006) and has spent 18+ years applying ART specifically to athletes and active adults dealing with upper extremity injuries. Dr. Sellers, D.C. (Palmer 2021, B.S. Exercise Science, University of Iowa) brings additional exercise science expertise to support your recovery and return to performance.
Effective Solutions for Shoulder Pain Relief
Step 1 — Assessment
Step 2 — Treatment
Step 3 — Movement and Recovery Plan
What Life Looks Like After Shoulder Pain Treatment
When the underlying soft tissue and nerve issues are addressed rather than just managed, the changes are noticeable fast:
- Range of motion comes back. Reaching overhead, behind your back, and across your body without bracing for pain.
- Sleep improves. No more repositioning every 20 minutes to find a comfortable side.
- You train without compensating. Benching, pressing, throwing, swimming, without the mechanical substitutions that were quietly loading your neck and opposite shoulder.
- The cycle stops. Instead of "it gets better, then comes back," you address the root cause and move forward.
- You know what's happening in your body. Our patients leave with a real understanding of why their shoulder hurt and what to do if it starts to flare again.
Most of the athletes and active adults who come to us have already tried rest, heat, and ice. ART works for them because it targets what rest can't fix: the accumulated tissue damage that's been building for months or years.
Frequently Asked Questions
Most patients begin to feel a meaningful difference within 4 to 6 visits. Acute injuries often respond faster. Chronic shoulder pain that's been building for months or years may take longer to fully resolve. We'll give you an honest assessment at your first visit based on what we find.
No referral is needed. If you have recent imaging (MRI, X-ray) of your shoulder, bring it, as it's helpful context. But it's not required. We can assess functionally and determine whether imaging would add anything useful.
Yes, and it's more common than most people realize. The nerves that supply the shoulder originate in the cervical spine, so irritation or compression at the neck can produce pain, weakness, or tingling that feels like it's coming entirely from the shoulder. This is called referred pain or cervical radiculopathy, and it's one of the reasons a thorough assessment matters. We evaluate both the shoulder and the cervical spine to make sure we're treating the actual source of the problem, not just where you feel it.
Yes, when assessed properly. We evaluate the degree of involvement before any treatment, and ART is a conservative, non-invasive approach that works with the tissue rather than forcing it. For partial rotator cuff tears and strains, ART and soft tissue work are well-tolerated and often produce faster recovery than rest alone. For full thickness tears requiring surgical repair, we'll tell you that directly and refer you to the appropriate specialist.
