7 Things You Can Do Right Now To Ease Your Shoulder Pain & Stiffness
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: