Shoulder pain is one of the top three things we see in clinic every day! A common question that our therapy team hears is: “I haven’t had an accident or injury so why am I now struggling with shoulder pain?”
Often it is the simple things in life that can be the cause of why our shoulders start to become painful. What do I mean by this? Repeated movements such as using computers, lifting the children or grandchildren, yanking the gear stick or hand brake in the car can all be causes.
We do some or all of these so called every day activities hundreds of thousands of times in our life time and it is the repetition of a) doing these movements and b) doing these movements badly that is the real reason we start to get problems.
The shoulder is a joint that is made to move in all directions. It is not known as a stable joint. Think of a seal balancing a ball on its nose….well that is what the ball of the shoulder joint is like balanced on the small socket.
The shoulder relies heavily on the muscles around it to create its stability and this is why we often develop pain and stiffness and risk dislocation in the shoulder. The muscles around the shoulder need to all work in tune together like a world class orchestra. If they do not, the muscles, tendons, ligaments and joint itself are at risk of damage.
The main cause of non-traumatic shoulder pain is poor positioning and poor movement quality. An example of what I mean by this is, are your shoulders rounded? Is one shoulder higher or lower than the other?
How do you reach up to that kitchen cupboard? Do your shoulders raise up to your ears to get that cup off the shelf? Reading this article now, what’s your posture like? Are you rounded and bent over your phone of computer? If you answer YES to any of these questions and are struggling with shoulder pain then you may have found your cause.
Now what to do about it…
- The first and easiest thing to do is check your posture and your shoulder position.
If you work at a computer a lot check your keyboard position. If you are having to reach a long way forwards move the keyboard closer to you. The rule of thumb is: Your upper arm should be next to your body and be in a vertical position and your elbow at 90 degrees.
- Get up and go and look in the mirror. Look at your shoulders. Is one higher than the other? Are one or both your shoulders rounded forwards?
If they are try pulling your shoulder backwards. In clinic we talk about having width across your collar bones. What this will do is work the shoulder blade muscles and help put the shoulder joint in to a better position where the stress and strain can be taken off the shoulder muscles.
- Driving – if you can, when stationary at traffic lights look at the person in the car next to you and see if their shoulders are rounded. More often than not they well be. If they are it’s likely they are having to reach too far forward or up too high to reach their steering wheel.
The best position is to have the steering wheel close enough to you that you can keep your elbows at 90 degrees just like at the computer. Also use the back of the car seat that you are sitting on as an aid to check your shoulder blade position. Can you feel both your shoulder blades touching the car seat? If not then your shoulders are rounded and under strain.
Whatever the cause of your shoulder pain know this…. there is help out there, you just need to get to the right person who can help you find the cause of your pain. Once you know what is causing your shoulder pain, a plan can be put in place to fix it.
With the Christmas shopping season looming make sure your shoulders are working smoothly so you can carry those shopping bags with ease.
If you are struggling with shoulder pain and you would like to discover how to ease it quickly…click the link below to instantly download your free shoulder pain report: http://www.wdcphysiotherapy.co.uk/physiotherapy/shoulder-pain/
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[ebs_iconheading type=”h4″ style=”glyphicon-user” icontype=”glyphicon”][/ebs_iconheading] About the Author
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About Wendy McCloud
Wendy is the founder of The South East’s Leading Specialist Private Physiotherapy Practice for People in their 40’s, 50’s and 60’s, who want to keep healthy and active.
Wendy’s background includes working as an Extended Scope Practitioner Physiotherapist working as part of Mr. Ali Al-Sabti’s Orthopaedic Consultant’s team specialising in Shoulder Pain.
Wendy has treated royalty for Shoulder pain through referrals from her close links with a top Orthopaedic Shoulder Surgeons. More recently Wendy has been the sole choice physiotherapist for all Essex based referrals from London Shoulder surgeon Mr. Matthew Sala.
Wendy worked in National Level Rugby Union for 11 years, working with players who achieved county honours and representative honours for various countries such as England, Samoa, Australia and New Zealand. Wendy resigned from her position as Head Physiotherapist at Southend RFC in June 2011 to open WDC which has become the fastest growing clinic in the South East of England.
WDC is now a large multi-therapist speciality practice in Southend-on-Sea, Essex.
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