How to Help Your Shoulder Pain
Addressing Shoulder Tightness & Pain Continuing on our trigger point journey, I thought the shoulders would be our next stop. A very common pain or soreness occurs just next to the scapula, around your midback.
Even though the pain is in the back, this is not due to muscles acting on your spine, but due to muscles acting on your lovely shoulder joint. And as I sit here writing on the computer, I am trying to keep my posture in check – not to force good posture, but to find a place where my spine can stack and my shoulders can rest back in their sockets.
The Overworked Rhomboids
Sure, it’s helpful to get trigger points out of your rhomboids (the muscles in the back that attach your scapula to your spine). But guess what might be creating those trigger points.. It’s usually shortness in the front of the shoulder.
So, while it’s great to hammer out the rhomboids, the front of your shoulder, where your pecs lie, is an important area to address.
The Lovely Pectoralis Major & Minor
Often overlooked because rarely is there pain here in the front of the chest, these pec muscles, when shortened (which is the case for most of us!), can cause much pain in the back of the shoulders, neck, or down the arm.
When they become short (usually from continuous sitting or standing with slumped shoulders),the muscles in the back of the shoulder become lengthened and have to work harder against gravity to hold your shoulders back! This is why we experience pain in the back and not where the short, tight, and much neglected pecs lie. They are doing just fine being tight and held, thank you very much… until you press on them and realize there is work that needs to be done!
It’s also extremely important to get your shoulder joint in good alignment.. when the front of our shoulders become overly shortened, it causes extra work for other muscles and in the end, the ligaments take a beating as well, and you are left with a rotator cuff injury. Not fun.
Self Care Techniques to Open the Shoulder & Decrease Pain
Ball on Your Pecs: Grab a small ball (tennis, racquet, or lacrosse work well) and stand facing a wall. Place that ball (between you and the wall) a few inches below your clavicle, more towards your shoulder in the meaty area of your pecs. Use your weight to lean into the ball and get a minnie massage in that area. You should hit your pec major and minor, and feel free to move the ball to a slightly different location and hold for a few mins.
Work one side for at least 5 mins and see how it compares to the other side- you might feel a surprising difference.
Move the ball slightly to one side if you experience any sort of nerve tingling/numbness down your arm or in your fingers. You don’t want to aggravate the nerves of your brachial plexus.
The Wall Angel: Another great exercise that I recommend many of my clients do is called the Wall Angel. And here’s a video that shows how to do it. Be sure to follow the directions carefully on how you should stand, etc. It is a great shoulder opener and also strengthens your muscles on the back of your shoulder.
Please don’t hesitate to call Leah for any advice on how you can help free your shoulder joint, creating more ease and less pain!
Free Bodied, specialized massage therapists Salt Lake 801-906-3222
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