How To Get Rid of Shoulder Pain

Shoulder Pain: What You Can Do To Ease It If You’ve Been Putting Up With It For Weeks…

Let’s talk about shoulder pain, and the most common cause most shoulder injuries share in common – overuse.
Now, when it comes to aches and pains, there are just two ways that bring them on.

1. You can have an accident [Ouch!!]

With an accident... for example you could have a fall or have a collision.
You know exactly the moment it happens as there’s an incident that happens that’s usually accompanied by a pain that makes you want to yell and curl up into a ball 

We call this type of pain – acute pain.

2. Is related to something you’re doing that causes annoying, persistent pain that just won’t go away.
This is the most common one we see here in the clinic, and we call this chronic pain.

Chronic shoulder pain is identified as pain that’s always there. It’s the reason you go to grab your shoulder after lifting something heavy or when you go to reach for something in the back of the cupboard, and isn’t always put down to one particular movement or activity. 

Those who have this type of shoulder pain often feel doomed, as if they were just plagued with bad shoulders.
But here’s the thing, there’s simple ways to ease it, and to help fix it!

The faster you book an appointment, the faster you get to being PAIN FREE! ​Schedule an Appointment Now  with us at no risk!​

Let me tell you a quick story about a patient we saw a few weeks ago…
Bill, 52 from Lakeway, came to us after struggling with chronic shoulder pain for a whole six months…
He played Golf at a high level, so having to put up with shoulder pain every day was beginning to affect his performance and get in the way of his “range- time”/ practice sessions.  Not good when he was heading into tournament season and his playing partners were depending on him!
After a few weeks of hands-on physical therapy with massage and personalised exercises, Bill returned to the course, able to play 18 holes, multiple days in a row without pain [ or the need of anti-inflammatory meds] !
But even if you’re not involved in a sport like Bill, this doesn’t mean chronic shoulder pain like this isn’t happening to you (or won’t either)…
This same type of shoulder pain can be caused by all sorts of things – ironing, painting, a job where you have to lift heavy objects, and even from sitting hunched over at a desk all day.


So what can you do about it if it’s happening to you (or if it suddenly comes on)?

Well first, I want you to know that ‘overuse’ doesn’t specifically mean doing an activity ‘too much’ (so I’m sorry to say it, but something like ironing isn’t the culprit of your bad shoulder!). 
Overuse actually means doing an activity the ‘wrong way’ too much.

Let me explain…

In Bill’s case, he was performing a shoulder exercise in the gym to enhance his golf performance, using bad body mechanics while in the wrong position – which we discovered was causing his shoulder pain in the first place!

But gym and exercises aside, it could just be that you could have weak muscles in your arms, back and shoulders, poor posture when sitting and standing, or you could have even spent most of your life sleeping in an awkward, twisted position!
Whatever it is, all of these things can be the culprit of nagging shoulder pain.

So let’s look at some ways you can ease irritating, daily shoulder pain that disturbs your sleep and gets in the way of almost everything you do…

Use Ice And Heat
Whenever you’re feeling achy or painful, such as at the end of a very busy day, ice is by far the best way to ease the pain. 
Apply an ice pack for ten minutes or so [little, but very often, like  every 1-2 hours].

And when to use heat? 
When you wake up in the morning the muscles are likely to be a little stiff and cold from not moving all night, applying a hot pack will help you move your shoulder with more ease. 
Again ten minutes should do it.

How Do You Sleep?

• How many pillows do you sleep with? Two, or one?
• If you’re used to sleeping with two pillows this one may feel a little strange at first but in the long run, it’ll do your shoulders a world of good.
• Sleeping with one pillow lowers the amount of stretching and tension that happens in your neck and shoulders at night.
  
• Drop down to just one soft pillow and you’ll notice a difference.
• Avoid Reading For More Than 20 Minutes in Bed
• The reason why is because your head looking forwards and down at a book or  Kindle, is increasing tension in muscles. It’s a bit like stretching an elastic band  
• too far – eventually it will “fray” and even snap.  
• Worse, at this late time in the day, your muscles are already tired and “weak”. And  by placing them under even more tension so late in the day, will make more tension and headaches through the night, inevitable. 

Hands On Physical Therapy
And lastly, if you’ve been putting up with the pain for several weeks now, (even months), getting some hands-on treatment is going to help ease the pain fast. In fact there isn’t a faster way to ease shoulder pain than by going to see a Physical Therapist…

Physical Therapy will be able to soothe and relax tight aching muscles, as well as give you personalised exercises that will help strengthen your muscles and make sure your posture is perfectly aligned.
Combine all these tips along with a trip to see a Physical Therapist, and you will feel a dramatic drop in the pain you’re currently suffering from.

These are only a few recommendations to try.  If you would like more information, you have a couple of options.

Download our Shoulder Report:  The 7 Ways To (…Naturally)  STOP! Annoying, Daily, Irritating  Neck And Shoulder Pain…From Disturbing Sleep And Causing Severe Headaches! 

OR… Phone the clinic (512) 261-8699 and speak to one of our Specialist and see of Physical Therapy is right for you. ​