The Best Ways To Overcome Shoulder Pain and Avoid Expensive and Debilitating Surgery
One of the primary concerns for people with shoulder pain is that they will one day need shoulder surgery. Which is not only an expensive treatment but also debilitating that can lead to lots of days of missed work and a lengthy recovery. Even worse - many people with shoulder pain have been convinced by their family, friends, and a lot of time their doctors - that surgery is the best option. The result is that they rush into an expensive surgery only to find that the problems that led to their shoulder pain resurface after the surgery and the problem isn’t actually fixed!
In this weeks article we discuss three things that NEED to be done in order to overcome shoulder pain and avoid shoulder surgery.
1) Improve Mid Back Mobility
The shoulder is closely linked with our mid back (or thoracic spine). Many people with shoulder pain also show a lack of movement in their mid back. A lack of movement in our mid back will lead to a lack of shoulder range of motion (see image to the right). And a lack of shoulder range of motion will lead to abnormal forces being put through our shoulder when we do basic movements like pushing, pulling, or reaching. These get even worse when we start to add weight (like in our favorite gym class).
Which is why adding in mid back mobility exercises is VITAL in avoiding shoulder surgery.
2) Keeping the Shoulder ‘Centered’
The shoulder functions like a ‘ball and socket joint’ but in actuality it looks more like a ‘golf ball on a golf tee.’ Meaning that the ‘ball’ is much bigger than the ‘socket’. And because most everything we do during our daily routine happens in front of us, that gold ball gets pulled forward straining muscles in our posterior shoulder and pinching muscle in the front - which almost always contributes to shoulder pain.
Which is why exercises that keep the shoulder (golf ball) centered on the ‘tee’ like the Bottoms Up KettleBell hold shown in the video are VITAL in overcoming shoulder pain.
3) A Lot (and we mean A LOT!) of Rowing And Pulls
Another consequence of having our shoulders rounded forward from sitting at a desk all day and always reaching and working in front of us - is the muscular imbalance in creates at the shoulder. Generally the pattern is tightness and overdeveloped muscles in the front (pecs, anterior delts, etc) and weak and underdeveloped muscles in the back (rhomboids, posterior delt, etc). Overtime this imbalance leads to pain and dysfunction that is not corrected - can lead to you thinking that you need surgery!
Which is why rows (like the dingle arm row in the attached video) and pulls (deadlifts, pull ups, etc) are required to correct this imbalance. A general rule is to include 3 row exercises for every push - but because we spend so much of our day rounded forward it should honestly be way more than that.
It’s important to keep in mind that overcoming shoulder pain can never be achieved with therapy alone. You want to avoid surgery? You NEED to combine the benefits of manual therapy (to help tissues heal) with a PROGRESSIVE exercise plan that starts with the fundamental movements of the shoulder and then begins to add strength so you can SAFELY overcome shoulder pain.
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