Shoulder Pain

[Brandys Girl]

I have the same sort of pain that mightmouse23 has in a particular forum.  If I tilt my head to the left I can feel the muscle pull tight in my left shoulder blade.  Hurts like all get out.  Anything I can do to alleviate the pain?  Some days I am fine and others it acts up again.  Like I have a knot and feels like the area is swollen although its not visibly swollen.  

[mike1105]

of course i did not mean 45 minutes immediately. but it is something to work up to in an effort to retrain muscles, especially if your work or your habits train those muscles to be in a position that causes pain.

[ssjdecube]

You don't have to do it for 45 min a day, especially not at first. It you have done no muscle traing or stretching at all, start off slow. It would be better if you did 10 min a day everyday of stretching.

Here are some stretches to do:

Bring your ear to you shoulder and place that hand on top of you head and pull down, to your own tolerance. Repeat on other side. This will stretch the upper and mid trap. Do same as above but bring you ear behind your shoulder. Then bring ear in front of shoulder.

Also, try sitting in a chair and holding the bottom of the seat with one hand, then lean away.

These can be done anywhere, so you have no excuse :)

There is also a six way stretch strap you can get that can help stretch out this area

[mike1105]

doesnt your health come first??  you must make time. if you dont do it often enough you may not get better. this is due to muscle memory.. trust me -- i've been there.

[Brandys Girl]

45 minutes each 3 x a day?  That would be cool if I had that much time to spare.  Unfortunately I don't.  I can maybe do 45 once a day 3 times a week.  I will have to check for these books and see what they have to offer.  Thanks.

[mike1105]

dont rely on someone else to fix you. you ned to do this yourself and you need to do it often--- get a book on posture by D'Arezzo and another on triggerpoint release by Clair Davies. dedicate 45 minutes per session 3 times per day to doing the upper body stretches and exercises. You also need to strenthen the rhomboids (shoulder blade pinching exercises). Massage is great also but strengthening the weak mid back and stretching the chest muscles will help you the most. massage wont help unless your muscle imbalance (front to back) is corrected. see article on the web on Upper Crossed Syndrome..

[Brandys Girl]

thanks for the info mike.  i have been seeing a chiropractor and today for the first time had one of those chair massage therapies for 30 minutes.  i never thought i would ever say this but it hurt so good. lol  he manipulated and stretched my muscles and it hurt like hell but felt good too at the same time.  

[mike1105]

it needs to be myofascially released and stretched most likely