Shoulder Pain?
An Overlooked Culprit
Behind Many Cases
Shoulder Pain?
There can be several reasons for pain or clicking in your shoulder. Some may notice a click when raising one arm overhead or pain when lifting their arm out from their side. Unfortunately this is a common issue that affects up to 70% of people at some point during their lifetime (1). Some of the reasons for these issues can be: Muscle tone imbalance, bursitis, or injured labrum.
About the Shoulder
When a joint is inherently mobile it naturally lacks stability. The shoulder is the most mobile joint in the body, thus it is also one of the least stable. Here is a list of several muscles supporting the shoulder joint:
- Subscapularis
- Infraspinatus
- Teres Minor & Major
- Supraspinatus
- Deltoids
- Trapezius
- Pectoralis Major & Minor
- Latissimus Dorsi
One thing to note, some muscles may be functioning inadequately due to local micro injuries or inflammation. This alone can decrease muscle tone and cause imbalance in the rest of the connecting muscles. When one muscle isn’t “pulling its weight” the others have to compensate and can overwork themselves to allow you to move properly. Over time, this can cause a chain reaction resulting in several muscles that have been overworked and stressed to the point of pain.
What Can Be Done?
Address trigger points within the shoulder muscles mentioned earlier. Evaluate the shoulder for discomfort as you work through these trigger points to identify the muscles with the most involvement. Don’t forget to also consider the neighboring joints that might be affected by the shoulder.
Many times you can achieve rapid relief when you have successfully addressed the problems leading to the imbalance.
Addressing other underlying conditions such as chronic or systemic inflammation can also be helpful. Low-level systemic inflammation can also cause an imbalance in several biochemical processes your muscles use daily