Through this huge snow-burdened winter in Orillia, we saw more injuries from clearing snow than any other winter I can remember. Snow shoveling, snow blowing, and even roof raking are all hard on us. Back pain is common after these chores but this year, a lot of people complained of shoulder pain. Shoving the snow blower or shovel forward is stressful on the front of the shoulder; while lifting it is aggravating to the top of the shoulder, and pulling on a roof rake strains the back of the shoulder. If one is unlucky enough to have some back pain as well, then sleeping is often going to be interrupted and a good healing overnight in bed is impossible. Chronic pain and inflammation often result from this situation.
There are a lot of interventions that can help chronic shoulder pain and Chiropractors have an enviable success rate here. All types of treatment focus on reducing pain, inflammation and tension around the shoulder tissues, but Chiropractic care also looks at the related nerve supply to the area coming from the neck and upper back. You see simple shoulder strains will often resolve quickly. If, however, there is nerve root irritation coming from the neck and/or there is serious stiffness or weakness coming from the upper back, then it is much more complicated.
We start with a history of the condition and a list of all possible complicating factors. Then, a thorough examination to determine exactly what tissues are affected and whether they are inflamed, weak, or tense. Most times there is pain and inflammation in the shoulder joint with involvement of the rotator cuff muscles – namely supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, and subscapularis. There is usually limited range of motion and pain at rest and/or on certain movements. When the body compensates for injury to any shoulder muscle, we soon see involvement of other muscles. This includes the deltoids, pectoralis, biceps, trapezius, levator scapula, and rhomboids. Often several of these muscles are sore and tense and likely they are weak.
To say you need to strengthen those weak muscles is not wrong, but timing is the key. Most times we need to reduce the tension in the muscles and adjust the related spinal joints first, so that strengthening the muscle will not aggravate it. To reduce the muscle tension, there are a lot of techniques that can work here. The secret is to find something that can be done often enough to make a significant change in the condition. Stretching, massage, trigger point therapy, active release, stripping and acupuncture all can help. Finding a practitioner to work on this is fine, but how are you going to continue the work at home every day? We find that Chiropractic treatments including muscle release and adjustments to the related parts of the spine is very effective two to three times per week. But what is absolutely necessary for quick improvement is training for at home care to be done every day. Once the shoulder pain and tension settle down, it is time to start a strengthening routine. We continue to work with patients to reduce the tension further in the muscle and related spinal joints, but also gradually add in the stretching and then strengthening exercises as they are needed.
See how simple posture exercises can help https://drkmatheson.com/exercise-videos/
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