DO YOU HAVE SHOULDER PAIN AND HAVE TROUBLE LIFTING YOUR ARM OUT TO THE SIDE?

Do you experience acute shoulder pain when you lift your arm out to the site?

Shoulder pain is no fun. Learn more about how the shoulder join works, and what is anatomically wrong when your shoulder joint when your shoulder feels cranky, inflamed and painful.

How the Shoulder Joint Works

The shoulder is an interesting joint. It sacrifices stability for mobility unlike the hip, the other major ball in socket joint. Due to the large ball sitting in a fairly small socket, stability needs to come from somewhere beyond the ligaments and this is where the rotator cuff comes into play.

There are four muscles that act like a cuff and wrap over the shoulder joint to keep the head securely in the socket. These muscles originate on the shoulder blade and attach themselves to the upper bone of the arm.  You wouldn’t think how important that flat piece of bone is that sits over your rib cage. The shoulder blade is an important anchor for the 4 muscles of the cuff and when there is dysfunction in the shoulder a trained eye can spot biomechanical irregularities.

What Exactly Causes the Shoulder Pain

The first of the cuff muscles is called the Supraspinatus. It originates at the top (“supra" meaning above) of the shoulder blade.  Its tendon has to pass through a fairly small space before it attaches itself to the bone of the upper arm. This is where things can go wrong. When someone has poor posture, as in always slumping forward, the bone of the upper arm rotates forward which cramps the small groove where this tendon lives. You try to not get cranky when someone invades your space! 

Its function is to raise the arm out to the side of the body like the position of making angels in the snow. When bringing your arm away from the side of the body, the Supraspinatus muscle works hard to lift the arm up against gravity. If the tendon is cranky and inflamed, movement will be painful.

Research points to treating acute shoulder pain with isometric exercises. Iso meaning “same” and metric meaning “length”. So an isometric contraction is developing tension without actually contracting the muscle. 

Try this Exercise for Your Shoulder Pain

The isometric exercise for the Supraspinatus muscle is as follows:

1. Stand next to a wall.

2. Bring your hand forward about 30 degrees in front of your body and out slightly, so its in the plane of the shoulder blade.

3. Push against the wall with moderate intensity for 15 -30 seconds and hold it.

4. Let pain be your guide. Only push up to 4 on a scale of 10. (0 is no pain and 10 is let’s get you to the ER stat!)

If you have intense pain with any of these positions, you definitely need to consult an Orthopedic MD. 

Comment below if you have or ever had shoulder pain. What did you do to help yourself heal the initial stages?