Shoulder Problems: Massage can help

“The shoulder joint is the most flexible joint of the body. This is a gift, but also a weakness, as it’s free movement abilities make it very prone to injury.”

Shoulder Problems

The shoulder is prone to a variety of problems that can give you pain and limit your range of motion. Many of these are simply caused by wear and tear. For example, a common injury is tendinitis of one of the rotator cuff muscles called the supraspinatus. Through poor posture or overuse, the tendon becomes inflamed and painful. When the bursa becomes inflamed you develop what is known as bursitis. This can be extremely painful.

Trigger points, small knots in the muscles, are very common around the shoulder and can refer pain and tenderness into the muscles or joints. The referred pain can mimic other shoulder problems like tendinitis and frozen shoulder.

Sprains and dislocations typically result from falls. It's natural to reach your arm out to catch yourself when falling, but the impact can strain or tear the shoulder ligaments. If the impact is severe enough, the humerus may be knocked right out of the socket and the shoulder becomes dislocated.

With a severe trauma, the bones may actually fracture or break. The collarbone is most likely to break although the humerus can sometimes break as well. When this happens the arm needs to be immobilized.

Fractures can take up to three months to heal.

Whenever you have a shoulder problem, you tend to limit your movement to minimize the pain. This can lead to frozen shoulder. Your shoulder becomes stiff and you quickly lose mobility. It can soon become extremely painful to lift your arm. If you develop a frozen shoulder, it will take a long time and lots of therapy to regain your normal movement. Sometimes the only option is surgery. The best medicine in this case is prevention. As soon as you develop any pain or discomfort in your shoulder, see your massage therapist immediately for assessment and treatment. Don't risk getting this serious and debilitating shoulder condition.

Massage Can Help

Massage therapists can help when shoulder problems occur. More importantly, they can help prevent these kinds of problems from happening in the first place. Massage therapists will evaluate your shoulder through range of motion tests and other assessment procedures. They can then give you recommendations on the best course of treatment.

Their first priority is to make you feel more comfortable by getting rid of your pain. They can do this with specialized massage techniques. They may also use heat or hydrotherapy. To help the process along and to help prevent further problems your massage therapist can also give you exercises to help strengthen your shoulder and help maintain your mobility.

Massage therapists are trained to treat trigger points. As mentioned previously, these knots mimic other common shoulder conditions and are often an overlooked source of pain. Your massage therapist will be able to tell you if trigger points may be playing a role in your shoulder problem.

If you’ve injured your shoulder, your massage therapist will likely prescribe some exercises to help you regain the strength, flexibility and range of motion in your shoulder. Below are two typical exercises given to people with shoulder injuries.