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Shoulder Pain Healing

Exercise Program NOW!

"Almost every case of shoulder pain I have ever treated was related to some sort of mechanical or posture dysfunction" says Dr. Michael C Remy, a sports chiropractic orthopedist with over 25 years of successful shoulder treatment experience.   Whether the injury was in a highly trained athlete, or just an average Joe who was doing some yard work, Dr. Remy explains that the mechanical issues were usually there for some time, long before the stress of the injury ever caused pain.

It turns out that the shoulder relies heavily on balanced muscular forces for its stability and health, due to the shallow joint socket between the arm and shoulder blade. Almost everyone has some sort of shoulder blade or upper arm muscular imbalance due to repetitive motions, asymmetrical postures, or favorite sided activities such as swinging and throwing.  These asymmetries build up over many years and cause the shoulder to be at risk of injury due to weakened soft tissues such as tendons, ligaments and muscles. Often, playing sports and gym strengthening exercises only strengthen the inherent dysfunction because the exercises are being performed without correct body mechanics.  These mechanical asymmetries are often very subtle and go unnoticed by trainers and coaches. Shockingly, even some physical therapy and rehab supervised workout sessions can miss these crucially important mechanical errors. Sadly, many shoulder exercises are actually strengthening the mechanical errors that lead to more pain and injury. This occurs frequently in personal training, group exercise classes and even "advanced" instruction such as restorative yoga. Without expert mechanical analysis and correction of the shoulder and other body regions, any exercise, or treatment, including surgery, is often only a temporary pain fix.

Fot lasting relief, a conditioning program aimed at strengthening correct posture and shoulder mechanics, based on the individual's unique patterns of distortion, needs to be implemented.  This can only be done from an analysis of the person's unique body habits, posture, mechanics, and conditioning levels. The end goal is to strengthen the shoulder complex so that it can meet the daily activity and sport/fitness physical requirements of the individual with correct mechanics and a level of conditioning that prevents soft tissue damage and injury. This is the same approach regardless of diagnosis- tendinititis, impingement, instability, arthritis, bursitis, etc. 

We have provided some exercise samples from our Pain Free & Fit TM Shoulder Pain Healing Exercise Program for you to try. Please remember that all exercises MUST be based on your unique body analysis to be effective, and not all exercises may be helpful. In fact, some may aggravate your condition.  It is always recommended that you consult with your own doctor before beginning this or any exercise program to receive a proper diagnosis of your pain, as our program is not intended to diagnose ot treat any pain condition.

In the standing position, correct your shoulder posture and mechanical faults that you found on your analysis.  These corrections should involve a minimal corrective tension and positional change so that you are completely comfortable. If any discomfort is felt, use less of  a corrective angle, distance or tension. A partial correction that is comfortable is preferred over a  full correction that is uncomfortable. Correct not only shoulder blade and upper arm alignments, but general full body posture as well. Be sure that your arms are resting at your sides, with your palms facing eachother.

Tense the top of your upper arm bones 30 degrees back into your shoulder sockets (zero degrees is straight out to your sides, and ninety degrees is straight forwards).  This is the same angle which your shoulder sockets face, and tensing in this angle recruits the often weak rotator cuff muscles to stabilize your upper arms in their sockets. Be sure to maintain shoulder blade and upper arm alignment based on your analysis findings as you do this. 

As you hold this mild corrective tension in your shoulders, draw the letters of the alphabet with your finger tips.  The shape of the letters should be no more than an inch in size.  This will cause a slight movement in your shoulder joint (mobilization) as your rotator cuff muscles tense in different directions.  The key is maintaining your postural alignment of the shoulder blade and upper arm, while avoiding the mistakes found during your analysis. Trace the entire alphabet.  You can also use backwards or upside down letters for variety.

This mobilization exercise often relieves shoulder pain because it causes the rotator cuff muscles to "neurologically wake up" into holding your shoulder in a more stable position.  It normalizes the muscular imbalances and tensions around your shoulder joint and restores normal "force coupling". Besides the pain relieving effect of the actual muscle movement in  a non-irritating range of motion, the exercise also allows the cuff to be more properly used to stabilize the shoulder after the exercise.  This is why moving your arm may feel more comfortable after this mobilization warm-up exercise. 

Almost every shoulder pain case has some asymmetry in range of motion.  This is due to shortened or lengthened soft tissues, resulting from asymmetrical motions and faulty habitual postures and movements. This stretch may be done in the standing or seated position, and is super easy. Simply attempt to touch your hands together behind your back, as one hand reaches down your back, and the other reaches up your back. Be sure to maintain a comfortable amount of shoulder blade and upper arm corrective tension based on your shoulder analysis as you do this. Only reach as far as is comfortable.  For some, this may be only an inch towards your hip or upper back.  Hold the position of  a mild stretch for two seconds, release, and repeat for 10- 20 reps.  Switch sides. 

Get the COMPLETE

Pain Free & Fit TM

Shoulder Pain Healing

Exercise Program NOW!