Shoulder Joint Pain

Regain Your Full Range Of Motion

Author: Julie Donnelly, LMT – The Pain Relief Expert

Editor: Dr. Steve Chaney

 

Recently I’ve had a client coming to me for frozen shoulder pain treatment.  “Mary” is suffering from “Frozen Shoulder.”  It doesn’t sound so bad, but don’t let the simple diagnosis hide the fact that this condition causes more than just pain. Mary’s shoulder joint was so frozen that she had minimal range-of-motion in any direction, and sleeping was a nightmare!  Regardless of which way she slept – on her back or side, the ache would wake her up several times a night, often in tears from the pain.

Physical therapy wasn’t helping at all. Her frozen shoulder kept getting worse, and the only relief she had from the pain was by taking strong pain-killing drugs. The all-too-real fear of opioid addiction caused her to only take the drugs when the pain was unbearable.  She is a hairstylist so this situation was having a very negative effect on her income and future. On a more personal note, it certainly wasn’t helping her intimate relationship with her husband. She was getting frantic for a solution.

Fortunately, the client of a co-worker had come to my office when she was in pain, and she gave Mary my card.  That was the beginning of a long journey, but one that is helping her more than she’d ever imagined possible.

What Causes A Frozen Shoulder?

Your shoulder has more muscle attachments than any other joint in your body. Several muscles don’t attach right into your shoulder joint, but as they pull on your arm or shoulder blade, your shoulder moves.  This is the reason that your shoulder and arm can move in so many directions.   More than 15 muscles need to all work together to enable you to have a full range-of-motion with your shoulder and arms.

Frozen shoulder is caused by several, or many, of these muscles all being held taut because of multiple spasms.  When one muscle contracts, another must lengthen to allow for the contraction.

For example, when you are swimming and the muscles of your chest are pulling your shoulders/arms forward, the muscles of your back need to lengthen. And, when you want to reach back to take a tennis swing, the muscles of your chest must lengthen.  Or, when you want to lift your arm up to reach the top of your closet, the muscles that bring your arm down must lengthen. But, when you reach down to pick something up from the floor, the muscles on top of your shoulder must lengthen.  It’s always a matter of opposing muscles both needing to do their part in order for you to move your shoulder and arm.

Frozen Shoulder Pain Treatment

Actually, there are too many treatments for me to cover in detail in this short article. If you have been receiving Health Tips from the Professor for some time, you have many of my treatments from previous blogs.

Basically, if you have stiffness in your shoulder, you need to look at the movements you can’t make. Next, think about the opposing muscle that needs to be lengthened in order to make that movement. This is the muscle that needs to be treated to start to release your frozen shoulder.

One treatment you can do is for your infraspinatus muscle. This is the muscle that pulls your arm back.

Put a ball on the belly of the muscle, which is at the center of your shoulder blade, and apply pressure. Hold the pressure for about a minute, release for 5 seconds, and repeat.  Do this several times and then stretch that muscle.

To help people eliminate pain and stretch safely, I created a program called Focus Flexibility Training. This DVD program shows you how to treat all of the muscles of your shoulder and a whole lot more.

When it comes to Frozen Shoulder pain treatment, you’ll ultimately need to treat most, if not all of your shoulder muscles.  It’s not a fast treatment, but it does work.

Wishing you well,

Julie Donnelly

 

About The Author

Julie Donnelly is a Deep Muscle Massage Therapist with 20 years of experience specializing in the treatment of chronic joint pain and sports injuries. She has worked extensively with elite athletes and patients who have been unsuccessful at finding relief through the more conventional therapies.

She has been widely published, both on – and off – line, in magazines, newsletters, and newspapers around the country. She is also often chosen to speak at national conventions, medical schools, and health facilities nationwide.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Surgery Is Not the Only Option

Author: Julie Donnelly, LMT –The Pain Relief Expert

Editor: Dr. Steve Chaney

I was at my sailing club and a man was sitting watching the water, rubbing his painful shoulder.  I asked him what was wrong and he said he had a sore shoulder for the past three months. He told me he desperately wanted to find some pain relief. He loves to sail and this sore shoulder pain was preventing him from going out on the water.  He’d already been to a massage therapist, a physical therapist, and a chiropractor. He finally went to an orthopedic surgeon and was told that surgery was the only way to get relief from his painful shoulder. However, he had decided that he didn’t want to take that path…yet.

Why Muscles Can Cause a Painful Shoulder

I use an analogy that makes it clear why muscle spasms in your shoulder will cause joint pain.  If you pull your hair, your scalp will hurt. But, you don’t need to massage your scalp or take aspirin for your headache, and you definitely don’t need brain surgery.  You simply need to let go of your hair!

Your shoulder has more muscle attachments than any joint in your body.Each muscle pulls your shoulder in a different direction. As any of the muscles get tight it puts pressure on the bone. Your painful shoulder is the end result – just like pulling your hair hurts your head.

To get relief all you need to do is release the tension in the muscles.

Stretching WON’T Help Ease a Painful Shoulder!

It is important to untie the knots (spasms) in the muscles before stretching. Think of what happens if you take a 12″ length of rope, tie enough knots in it so it is 11″ long, and then try to stretch it back to 12″ without first untying the knots.  This is what will happen to your muscle fibers if you stretch without first releasing the spasms.

I’ve worked for years with people who not only have sore shoulder pain, but also have pain in every joint. Frequently pain is caused by repetitive muscle strain while working or playing sports and it needs to be released. Working with athletes it was vital to teach them how to do self-treatments they could use during a race or competition. And my other clients have found self-treatments give them permanent relief from aches and pains.

This has led to several books and DVD programs, including Focused Flexibility Training.  On one DVD I demonstrate how to self-treat every muscle, from your head to foot. And then, on two DVDs (1 Upper Body and 1 Lower Body) Ana Johnson, a fantastic yoga instructor, leads you through self-treating the muscles you will be stretching followed by a 30-minute yoga program.  It works to quickly eliminate a painful shoulder, as well as pain and stiffness throughout your body.

Focused Flexibility Training has a foundation of self-treatments that come from my book, Treat Yourself to Pain-Free Living. The exciting part is people from all over the world have confirmed that the treatments really work!

There are several treatments for sore shoulder pain. Each addresses a different group of muscles that move your shoulder and arm. There are uncountable motions you make every day without even thinking about it, and each muscle can be strained.

Treatment for a Painful Shoulder

The photo to the left show you how to treat your infraspinatus muscle. This muscle brings your shoulder back, like you’re taking a tennis serve. When your Infraspinatus muscle is in spasm, it causes shoulder pain as you try to bring your arms forward.

Place the Perfect Ball as shown in the picture, and lean your weight into the ball.  Look for the “hot spot,” which will be tender.  As you lean into the ball take the pressure off, and then lean again. You’ll find the painful shoulder becoming less and less painful each time you again add pressure.

Move the ball to different areas of your shoulder, finding the various painful points.  Each one is a spasm that is causing your sore shoulder pain. You can enhance this treatment by slowly drawing your arm across your body while you are still pressing into the ball. Since the spasms have been released, this movement will safely stretch the muscle fibers. As you release each spasm, and then stretch, you’ll find pain relief and you’ll know how to stop pain quickly and easily should it return.

As for the man mentioned at the beginning of this blog, I taught him how to do the self-treatments.  I’m happy to say that today he told me he slept through the night for the first time in weeks. He’s getting better every time he does the self-treatments and he’s back to sailing again.  That is so fulfilling — I LOVE my work!

With some knowledge of how to find spasms, how to self-treat them, and how to stretch properly, you can Stop Pain FAST!  This, of course, goes for a painful shoulder as well.

Wishing you well,

Julie Donnelly

About The Author

Julie Donnelly is a Deep Muscle Massage Therapist with 20 years of experience specializing in the treatment of chronic joint pain and sports injuries. She has worked extensively with elite athletes and patients who have been unsuccessful at finding relief through the more conventional therapies.

She has been widely published, both on – and off – line, in magazines, newsletters, and newspapers around the country. She is also often chosen to speak at national conventions, medical schools, and health facilities nationwide.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Author: Julie Donnelly, LMT –The Pain Relief Expert

Editor: Dr. Steve Chaney

Shoulder joint pain was preventing a father from throwing a baseball to his son and he was very distressed.  He needed should joint pain relief in the worst way.  He was complaining to a friend of his who is a client of mine. Even though he had been recommended to go for surgery, his friend convinced him to give muscle therapy a chance. So yesterday “Frank” came in to see me.

He demonstrated throwing a ball, but he could barely lift his arm, and he definitely couldn’t bring it back. He said that his time with his son is precious to him, and that their favorite pastime is throwing a baseball.  If I could just help him do that, he would be happy.

Why Muscles Cause Shoulder Joint Pain

Your shoulder has more muscle attachments than any other joint in your body.  A muscle pulls in only one direction, muscles never push. When you consider all the movements you can make with your shoulder and arm, you can see why there are so many muscles involved.

The important fact is when a muscle is shortened from spasms, it will cause pain at its insertion point on the bone at the shoulder joint.

The reason is evident when you consider an analogy I frequently use to describe joint pain. If you pull your hair at the end, it hurts at your scalp.  However, you don’t need to massage your scalp, you don’t need to take aspirin for the headache, and you definitely don’t need brain surgery!  You just need to let go of your hair!

The exact same thing is true to stop your shoulder joint pain. You just need to let go of the tight muscles that insert into your shoulder.

The Muscles That Cause Shoulder Joint Pain

Perhaps you’ve heard of the rotator cuff muscles: supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, and subscapularis. However, my experience has proven that there are a lot of other muscles that aren’t considered shoulder muscles, but that will cause shoulder joint pain. Those muscles are your biceps and triceps, your levator scapulae, and your latissimus dorsi (among others).

While not rotator cuff muscles, your biceps and triceps both originate deep within your shoulder joint. The other two muscles will move your shoulder blade (scapula). When they are in spasm, which shortens the muscle fibers, it will cause a strain to be placed on the muscle tendon, which will then cause a strain, and pain, on your shoulder joint.

How To Release Shoulder Joint Pain

There are so many muscles involved in shoulder joint pain that I couldn’t show all of them here, that’s why I wrote Treat Yourself to Pain-Free Living.

However, I do want to show you how to do one treatment for your infraspinatus muscle.

But first, back to “Frank.”  I treated each of the muscles mentioned, and then using Treat Yourself to Pain-Free Living, I showed him how to treat each of the muscles of his shoulder.  He was thrilled!  He could easily, and painlessly, throw a baseball.  In fact, he went outside and tried it just to make sure.

The key is self-treatment.  Muscles will again shorten up until you train them to be their normal, longer, length. You can’t go to a therapist as often as necessary to make the muscles return to their proper length. However, you can treat yourself every day! That’s how you really stay flexible and pain-free — frequent self-treatment.

An Easy Treatment For Shoulder Joint Pain

The following pictures are from Treat Yourself to Pain-Free Living

Step 1: To treat your left infraspinatus, put the Perfect Ball in your right hand and bring it under your arm, going back as far as you can so you are on top of your infraspinatus muscle.

 

Step 2:  Lean into a wall.  Find the “hot spot” (the spasm).  You’ll know you’re on it because it will hurt.

Step 3:  Stay still for 30-60 seconds, then move a little bit to roll the ball back and forth on the muscle.

Treat Yourself to Pain-Free Living will explain this further, and will give you pictures and descriptions of how to self-treat the other muscles that cause shoulder joint pain.

It just takes a little bit of direction and effort to learn how to self-treat. But, I’ve seen so many times that you CAN stop shoulder joint pain!

Wishing you well,

Julie Donnelly

About The Author

Julie Donnelly is a Deep Muscle Massage Therapist with 20 years of experience specializing in the treatment of chronic joint pain and sports injuries. She has worked extensively with elite athletes and patients who have been unsuccessful at finding relief through the more conventional therapies.

She has been widely published, both on – and off – line, in magazines, newsletters, and newspapers around the country. She is also often chosen to speak at national conventions, medical schools, and health facilities nationwide.

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.