Dr. Daral treats the full range of shoulder problems — rotator cuff tears, shoulder instability and dislocation, frozen shoulder, impingement, and labral tears. His approach starts with an accurate diagnosis through clinical examination and imaging, followed by non-surgical care wherever it's appropriate, with arthroscopic (keyhole) surgery reserved for cases that need it — the goal is a full return to daily activity and sport, not just pain relief.
Night-time shoulder pain is common with rotator cuff problems — lying down puts pressure on the shoulder and reduces the small movements that keep it comfortable during the day, so inflammation that was manageable while active tends to feel worse once you're still. It's one of the classic signs of a rotator cuff issue and worth getting evaluated if it's disrupting your sleep.
The key difference is stiffness versus weakness. Frozen shoulder causes progressive stiffness that limits movement in every direction, even when someone else moves your arm for you, often without a clear injury triggering it. A rotator cuff injury usually causes pain and weakness with specific movements — like lifting the arm overhead — while that passive range of motion often stays fairly normal. A clinical exam is the most reliable way to tell the two apart.
Neck-related pain often changes with neck position, radiates down the arm past the elbow, and may come with numbness or tingling in the hand. True shoulder pain is usually localized to the shoulder and upper arm, worsens with shoulder-specific movements like lifting or reaching, and isn't affected by turning or bending the neck. Because the two can overlap, a proper clinical exam is needed to pinpoint the actual source.
A Bankart lesion is a tear of the labrum — the cartilage rim that helps stabilize the shoulder — at the front of the joint, most often caused by a shoulder dislocation, and a common reason shoulders keep dislocating after a first injury. The Latarjet procedure transfers a small piece of bone to rebuild that stability, and is generally recommended for recurrent dislocations where there's significant bone loss, where a simpler labral repair alone isn't enough. I assess the degree of bone loss and instability with imaging before recommending one approach over the other.
