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Shoulder pain and stiffness can start insidiously or with a bang—you wake with it one morning, or a sudden movement leaves you gasping.

Whether your shoulder pain was caused by a long history of football injuries, or by simply reaching over into the back seat of the car to pick something up, shoulder pain can dramatically affect your quality of life, and make even simple everyday tasks a major chore.

So what I’ve given you here is a list of simple remedies to ease this pain.

1. Avoid sustained overhead activities

When your arms are raised there is increased pressure on the bursa and tendons in the shoulder. This may increase your pain (later perhaps) by increasing the reaction of the bursa & tendons.

2. Rest

If playing that game of tennis causes shoulder pain that lasts the next 24 hours, it’s probably time to put down that racket for a few days and let the shoulder settle. Your shoulder will not improve by “playing through the pain”. You may find that avoiding the aggravating activities is the best way you have of controlling and in fact settling your shoulder pain. I often tell my patients with shoulder pain:

You will get 50% of the improvement in your pain from avoiding the things I tell you not to do, and 50% of the improvement from doing things that I tell you to do.

3. Ice

For a recent injury or after shoulder surgery applying an ice pack for 20 minutes 2 to 3 times daily will help reduce both pain and swelling. If you are still playing sport, ice the shoulder after playing to minimize inflammation. Remember to wrap the ice pack in a dry cloth to protect the skin from damage.

4. Heat

For chronic conditions, or for arthritic pain, local hot packs can offer significant pain relief and relax tight muscles. Apply a comfortable warmth for 20 minutes, and repeat as often as necessary. Don’t use heat for new acute injuries – ice is more appropriate here. Local hot packs applied to the shoulder before exercise will often make those exercises both more comfortable and more effective.

5. Movement & stretching

Our bodies thrive on movement and our shoulders are no exception. But don’t move into painful positions, and avoid overhead activities. Shoulder pain is often considerably less after gentle pain free exercise. Tightness in the shoulder can contribute to pain on activity, so the correct exercises can help ease pain.

A very helpful simple exercise:
Pendular exercise: Bend forward supporting your weight on your unaffected arm, keeping your spine straight, and letting your affected arm hang relaxed straight down. Let your arm swing in small circles, x10 in each direction. Also swing the arm gently back and forth by your side, x10.

6. Posture

Our modern lifestyle unfortunately sees us sitting in front of a computer, our spine slumped forward and our arms and shoulders hunched forward. This position places the shoulders under stress, and contributes to impingement in the shoulder where the tendons and bursa are pinched between the bones. Improving your posture will reduce the pressure and irritation of the tendons and bursa, leading to a gradual reduction in shoulder pain.

Posture exercise: This exercise counteracts the tendency that we all have when sitting (eg in front of a computer) of adopting a “chin forward” posture. Sitting up straight in a chair against a backrest, pull your neck and upper back up straight by gliding your head backwards. Your face should remain vertical, and you should have the feeling of sitting tall and creating “double chins.” Hold for five seconds. Repeat x10.

7. Shoulder Blade Squeeze Exercise

Repeat this movement often, especially if you work with your arms forward for much of the day eg in front of a computer.

If you would like more articles and videos about your shoulders:

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Who is The Shoulder Physio?

Bruce Paulik, a Musculoskeletal/Shoulder Physiotherapist with three university degrees (Anatomy, Physiotherapy, Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy) who, over the past forty years, has helped thousands of clients achieve excellent outcomes for their shoulder problems.

Why this, why now?

My goal is to share my experience gained from rehabilitating thousands of shoulders for patients of all age groups and occupations. Although I write books for patients about the shoulder, this is a medium where I can share bite-sized pieces of easily digested guides to rehabilitating your shoulders.

What happens when you subscribe:

All subscribers receive short posts about shoulder recovery - emailed to you and available here on TheShoulderPhysio.

Paid subscribers receive:
— in-depth articles from our archive about building a stronger, more functional, pain free shoulder - emailed to you or available here on TheShoulderPhysio.
— chapters from my Shoulder Recovery Series books added each month to our archive.
— my Freedom Friday 3 minute videos with bite-sized nuggets of advice to help your shoulders.
— join our community discussions about shoulders and post comments.

Foundation Members receive:
— the full archive of our in-depth articles about building stronger, more functional, pain free shoulders - emailed to you or available here on TheShoulderPhysio.
— chapters from my Shoulder Recovery Series books added each month to our archive.
— articles aimed at your specific shoulder issues.
— my Freedom Friday 3 minute videos with bite-sized nuggets of advice to help your shoulders.
— join our community discussions about shoulders and post comments.
— a one on one 30 minute video discussion with me about shoulder rehabilitation.

Our Community

We are building a community here where members can share the trials & tribulations of shoulder recovery. I will be active in this community. Join the Chat!

BEGIN YOUR JOURNEY TO
A HEALTHY STRONG SHOULDER NOW!