12 Jan Preventing Shoulder Pain
At Trio Rehab, we have been seeing a significant number of people coming to the clinic due to preventable shoulder pain. Common causes of shoulder pain include trying to return to heavy weightlifting too quickly, excessive overhead activity, poor posture, and weakness associated with the aging process. The aging process, as you may have heard, is not for wimps!
Lifting weights is well known to be good for bone health and for maintaining healthy weight. Many people decide to begin the New Year focused on their health. While returning to the practice of lifting weights can spark memories of being strong 10, 20, or even 30 years earlier, it is often not the current reality. A large number of those aging who attempt lifting weights often revert back to weights that are entirely too heavy for weakened belly muscles, tendons, and ligaments. When lifting too much too fast, tendons and ligaments are overly stressed leading to tears and associated pain.
The moral of this story is that less is more. We want you to be healthy! We want you to lift weights! Just start with a weight lower than you think is necessary and build on the additional pounds overtime. If you aren’t mildly sore after one workout, then consider using ever so slightly heavier weights at your next workout. You will be back to lifting weights like you did in your twenties or thirties before you know it! And your tendons and ligaments will thank you for your patience!
Another common reason for people to experience shoulder pain is engaging in home projects that require a lot of overhead work! Since the pandemic has started, many people have looked around their home and decided to address whatever home projects they have been neglecting to complete. Building fences, painting the ceiling, and placing bins into the attic are a few pain causing activities that we have heard from clients visiting the clinic. For many, it is not practical to hire help, but when engaging in projects that require overhead lifting, consider the following to avoid shoulder pain:
- Limit the time spent working overhead by taking multiple breaks.
- Avoid using an awkward posture when performing overhead tasks.
- Use the best tools for the job in order to limit the amount of time working overhead.
Posture! The growing use of electronic devices have really done a number on how we position our bodies and maintain good posture. How many of us are guilty of looking down at our phones with our shoulders rolled forward? What about sitting at the kitchen table with our laptops, while leaning in too close to the see the tiny font and stretching our necks forward like a turkey? Yes, that definitely leads to shoulder pain. Eventually the front of the shoulders and back of the neck are tighter than typical, causing the muscles of the back and front of the neck to weaken. This muscle imbalance of tight and weak musculature can also lead to shoulder pain.
Pay attention to your posture and take frequent breaks while using electronics may prevent shoulder pain. In addition, stretching daily as well as keeping up your chest, shoulders, and back strength using basic body weight strengthening will reduce your risk of shoulder pain.
Lastly, and by far my least favorite, is shoulder pain due to the aging process! Boo. Hiss.
Shoulder pain can be a common occurrence as we age, especially for those over the age 65. Common complaints associated with shoulder pain due to aging include pain that runs from the middle of the neck down to the arm, as well as shoulder and neck pain that appears to worsen at night. Since aging is a certainty of life, the best way to prevent this type of shoulder pain is to remain active and use light weights throughout your life to prevent and/or slow weakening of the shoulder muscles!
Recap!
- Lift weights that are light and build up slowly to using heavier weights!
- Limit extensive overhead activity
- Think about your posture
- Grow older, keep exercising, and definitely don’t grow up!