If you are one of the many people who get sharp pains when lifting your arm up over your head, you may think it is just a weakness or instability. It is a bit more complicated than that. So let me break it down.
How does it work?
The shoulder is a fascinating joint. It allows you to do a lot of diverse movements that your leg can’t do. The trade-off is that unlike the leg, the shoulder is very unstable, especially when overhead. Imagine your shoulder is like a golf ball sitting on a tee – falls off a lot right. Now to beef it up there is a lot of thick tissue and muscles holding it all together. So when everything ‘slides and glides’ as normal, there is no pain. If you have read this far you’re probably in pain, so I’m going to assume that you have a movement problem. Poor movement means things are not ‘sliding and gliding’ as they should. This will most likely cause things to hit off each other and the thick tissue heats up and gives out i.e. pain!
What can I do?
Lots! Here is a short summary of a couple of things that should happen. These will be expanded upon in further blogs in relation to shoulder pain.
- Figure out what is wrong
You can try this on your own, but you won’t get far. I recommend seeing a Chartered Physiotherapist (click here to contact us). That way we can rule out any other issues that can cause pain in the area such as your neck for example.
- Get you ‘sliding and gliding’ again
Using our diagnoses, we will combine different techniques to increase your movement and reduce any tightness
- We need to find your best fit mechanics to optimise joint function.
Essentially, we need get things moving properly which should give you less pain. This means some activity, but don’t worry it should be simple, comfortable and tailored to your skill level.
Thank you for reading our four part blog series detailing shoulder pain.
1. Shoulder Pain? Here’s (probably) why
2. Shoulder pain. What can go wrong
3. Shoulder pain. The first steps to combat pain
4. Shoulder pain. Getting back on track