08 Feb Shoulder Pain Exercises: How to Deal with Shoulder Pain
Shoulder pain is a frequent problem for athletes and non-athletes alike. Common causes include sports injuries such as those from tennis, swimming, and weightlifting, as well as more general injuries from things like gardening, reaching for items on high shelves, and cleaning your house. Some localized shoulder pain can even be traced back to injuries in the neck. But regardless of the root cause of the injury, pain in the muscles, ligaments, or tendons in your shoulders can be incredibly debilitating, and shouldn’t be ignored.
Much of the time, shoulder pain starts with an injury to your rotator cuffs, a group of four muscles that the shoulder relies on for stabilization and movement. Tears and impingements of the rotator cuffs become more common as we age, but you can help prevent them with proper conditioning and stretching, particularly before participating in an activity like the ones mentioned above. Specific exercises like doorway stretches, side-lying external rotations, and lawn mower pulls can strengthen rotator cuffs and make impairments less likely. You can get more information on these exercises and more here.
As for treating shoulder pain, proper stretches and targeted movements can go a long way toward relieving discomfort. The aim of these exercises is to strengthen and increase mobility in not just your shoulders, but other areas that can cause shoulder pain, including your mid and upper back and your neck. Click here for nine exercises specifically designed to release pain in the neck and shoulders.
Ultimately, preventing and treating shoulder pain requires paying close attention to all areas of your upper torso and taking care to strengthen and align these areas as a means of better supporting your rotator cuffs and other important facets of your shoulders. You may never be able to totally prevent shoulder pain, but you can reduce your risk with simple preventative exercises.
Are you still in pain? At the Illinois Pain Institute, our nationally recognized physicians have been successfully treating shoulder pain in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs for over 25 years! We have over 30+ custom, non-surgical treatment plans to get you back to doing the things that you love. Call us today!