Pain is not a disorder or a disease. And our relationship with pain is virtually as ancient as life itself because pain is a major part of what keeps us safe and alive. There's no question that the underlying physical conditions which lead to chronic pain cause untold suffering. That should never ever be diminished or disregarded. But the pain itself is just the body's way of signalling a real or perceived threat to tissue integrity.
A person's pain threshold is essentially the amount of pain they are able to tolerate. And there are some surprising variables that determine our personal pain thresholds. There is a very good reason why understanding pain tolerance and pain thresholds is important for many pain sufferers, and that is the surprising fact that our ability to tolerate pain is closely linked to the likelihood we will suffer with chronic pain during our lifetime.
The majority of shoulder pains are caused by mechanical lifestyle factors like sedentary work, chronic postural strain, muscle atrophy, stress and old injuries. Occasionally shoulder pain can have more serious causes; but thankfully these are rare and easy to rule out with straight forward tests like blood tests and x rays.