Shoulder Pain? Three Causes and Three Cures

There are many possible causes for your shoulder pain.

Do you carry a heavy purse or bag?

I have done many, many therapeutic massages on people who carry a heavy bag around. Sometimes it is work or school related, sometimes it's just a huge, heavy "purse." (More like a suitcase, actually.)

I have had happy women leave my clinic, smiling that their "shoulder pain is all gone now." And, then I have to say, "Hey! Why are you hiking that shoulder up?" Well, the reason is because they've tossed the strap of their purse over their shoulder and hiked that shoulder up to keep the strap in place. Not good.

Do you have weak or poor posture?

If you have a forward head posture (your head is out in front of your body rather than over your shoulders) that puts a lot of strain on your poor back and shoulders. Forward head posture causes shoulder pain (and neck and back pain, and carpal tunnel pain, too.)

Are your chest muscles short?

Short or tight chest muscles pull your shoulders forward, rather than letting them be out to the sides of your body where they belong. Chest muscles can get short from posture habits that we have developed. They can also shorten when we use our chest (or pectoral) muscles way more than our back muscles. This causes pain in your shoulders, too. It doesn't allow you to use your shoulders in the neutral fashion they were designed to work in.

What can you do to correct shoulder pain from these causes?

In the case of a hiked shoulder:

Carry a lighter bag (you really do not need everything in the immediate world for every possible event in your purse, honest. There are stores all over the place!) Or, if you need a large bag for work, consider a rolling suitcase or bag on wheels. (When I suggested that to a male client, he said, simply, "I can't. I'm a guy." But he could.) Or, instead of a shoulder bag, use a "fanny pack" or a "tummy pack." Maybe not so easy to find, maybe not too stylish, but I love 'em. Hands-free carrying so I can swing my arms and shoulders or use my hands to do things other than carry a purse. Or, carry your purse in the crook of your elbow, like a football.

In the case of forward head posture:

Begin a simple program to strengthen your whole backside. Think small. You don't have to strengthen your whole body all at once. You can find lots of helpful articles at Simple Strengthening . Search the older posts, too.

In the case of short chest muscles:

Begin a simple stretching program to open and lengthen those muscles. Gravity and your bed are good tools to work with. Let your arms carefully hang off the side of the bed while you lie on your back. You will feel the muscleshttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif in front of your shoulders and arms stretching, as well as your chest muscles. Also, strengthening your back will help lengthen your chest muscles, too.

All of these things will help you get rid of your shoulder pain, and that's a good thing.

You can find much more natural pain relief information and links to all of my websites at http://KathrynMerrow.com

Got Achy, Breaky Shoulders?

If you have achy, breaky shoulders you are not alone!

Our lives cause us to overstretch our upper back muscles often. We work on a line, at a desk, holding our babies, cooking, or other things. All of them require us to hold our arms and hands in front of us for long periods.

The upper back muscles get overstretched and very often complain. They ache. They hurt. They cause headaches. Ouch!

Try these simple movements to strengthen your shoulders and make them feel better.

Let your breastbone lift by pretending there is a hook attached to it pulling you skyward. That will move your head back over your shoulders where it belongs.

Now lift your shoulders up toward your ears, and then let them roll backward. Move them down toward your waist. Lift, roll, move down. And do it again. Try squeezing your shoulder blades together as you bring your shoulders back and down.

Lifting and rolling our shoulders back and down does many good things:

1. It gets circulation going around our shoulders and neck.
2. It loosens the muscles around our shoulder blades.
3. It strengthens the muscles that hold our shoulder blades toward our spines.
4. It gives our poor, overstretched muscles a break!

If it feels good to you to roll your shoulders in a big circle, front to back or back to front, then do it. But, if it feels uncomfortable when you move your shoulders forward, don't do it. Just lift, roll and lower your shoulders behind you.

Please remember, if you do a movement which your muscles haven't done in a long time, they may get sore from the new movement. So, start slowly, just do a few, two or three. As you muscles start to remember what they used to do, and become used to the movement again, you can start to increase the repetitions.
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Lift, roll, squeeze your shoulder blades toward your spine, drop. Repeat.

Feels so good to get the muscles moving again!

Ahhhh.

And you can find a lot more about natural remedies and causes for shoulder and back pain at http://SimpleBackPainRelief.com

Four Stories about Bodies Healing Themselves

Healing Story Number One:

Years ago I worked with a woman who fell asleep reading in bed. She fell asleep with her head propped forward. After several hours, she awoke in pain. She could hardly move one of her arms. Over the next month, she came into work only two half days. You could see the pain in her face. She had to go home.

She had been to a chiropractor and a neurologist, but neither could help her.

One day, her daughter came over and said, Mom, could you watch the new baby for just a few minutes while I go down the street?

Well, the new baby started crying, and the woman tried to reach down to lift the baby from its' seat on the floor with her good arm. As she did that, her neck popped, and her pain went away. She was back to work the next day.

Healing Story Number Two:

A few years ago, a woman had shoulder pain. She went to a physical medicine doctor who sent her to physical therapy, and her shoulder got better.

When her other shoulder started to hurt, she had deep muscle massage and it helped, but still her shoulder hurt. So she went for physical therapy again. By the fourth session, she realized that it was making the shoulder pain worse, so she stopped going.

That weekend, she helped her husband lift a six-foot long counter top. Her pain stopped and her shoulder has not hurt since.

Healing Story Number Three:

A construction worker came home in pain. He had hurt his shoulder. His boss said to go to physical therapy. He went for four sessions, but didn't think it was helping.

Then he came home one day with a big smile. His pain was 90 percent gone! He had lifted something heavy at work, and his shoulder popped and the pain left. Now it is almost completely well.

Healing Story Number Four

A woman tripped on her doorstep. She fell face first into the room. It was a jarring fall, and it hurt. For the next several days, her back hurt and she could barely get comfortable in bed.

One night, she couldn't sleep, so she got up. Her husband came out and asked what she was doing. He said, come back to bed and I will rub your back.

When he pressed on her back, it popped loudly! He jumped back, afraid that he had hurt her. "What was that? Did you hear that?" His wife said, "Yes, I did. I felt it, too. In fact, I think I'm better now." And, she was.

What Do These Stories Mean?

Well, let's see. They could mean that sometimes we get a dislocation. That sometimes we just need a little movement to correct a problem. That bodies want to heal themselves, and be well. That sometimes we need to allow our body to heal in its' own time. That sometimes the correct counter-movement or counter-pressure can get things back to where they were.

They could mean that bodies want to be well, and that sometimes we need a little assistance or a little time to heal.

Physician, heal thyself. You can be your own best physician.