Shoulder pain can be very frustrating and hard to get rid of. Here are 3 tips to help you manage your shoulder pain.

1. Stop sleeping on it!

Many people with shoulder pain find that their symptoms are the worst at night. This can be caused by inflammation building up over night, or can also be from your shoulder stiffening up while sitting in the same position for several hours. 

But the most common reason people have shoulder pain at night? Sleeping on it! The pressure that is put through your shoulder at night is enough to cause a flare up and is one of the most common reasons people don’t see a decrease in their pain.

2. Stop “testing it out”

When an injury is recent it often hurts constantly because of inflammation, but as this starts to settle pain becomes only triggered with certain movements or lifting. This means that your shoulder is healing! But having pain that is not constant means sometimes we’re unsure whether its better yet. So then we “test it out” by doing a shoulder circle or a movement that causes a sharp pinch! Just to see.

The example I like to talk about is this; imagine slamming your thumb in a door. OUCH! It would be swollen and painful right away. This would start to get better with time and maybe physio. But if you then go and slam your thumb in the door again, of course its still going to hurt! This is essentially what you’re doing when you “test out” that shoulder.

3. Keep your elbow tucked

While your shoulder is sore, you will likely find that if you reach overhead, to the side, or behind you, your shoulder will hurt right away. A stiff, painful shoulder has to work much harder to lift things far from your body so if you are able to keep your elbow tucked by your side (or close to) when you’re doing tasks you will have a much easier time. We sometimes jokingly call this “T-Rex arms”! You can also get a stool to help you reach higher while still keeping your arm low. Just remember, this is a short-term strategy to help settle your shoulder pain, and one of the first goals in rehab is to get the shoulder moving normally again!

Shoulder still causing you pain? Think LOCAL

DP