The shoulder is the most unstable joint in the body, but unless you just suffered an injury, shoulders shouldn’t hurt. If you’ve recently been injured, consult a chiropractor or medical doctor.   However, if ou your shoulder was ever injured ( or your neck or upper back where the spine protects the sensitive spinal nerves controlling the shoulder and arm), you are likely experiencing the effects of posture adaptation.  Usually related to weak or poor posture, postural shoulder pain is a common and often painful problem from constantly working to control and use your hands as you balance your shoulders on your torso. Shoulder pain, arm pain, elbow pain and even hand pain is frequently seen when there is also nerve involvment.

Shoulder pain is usually positional-- it gets better, worse or different as body position changes. You move, your shoulder hurts, and you then try to move a different way that doesn't hurt. This doesn’t mean you’re cured or even pain-free; it means you’ve limited your choice of movements—your body’s chain of motion—to a smaller range of options. Over time, shoulder posture distortions causes pain and breakdown ( i.e. Arthritis /Degenerative Joint Disease) in the spine and other joints from the stress of daily wear & tear.

In time, compensation to avoid pain means you keep adapting until there’s only one way you can move without causing pain. And then even that goes away and it hurts regardless of what you do. Episodes of shoulder pain may come on after over-activity or without apparent cause, and is triggered as body adapts to mechanical stress, weak posture and inefficient motion. e.g.

• Hunching over a computer keyboard typing for hours at a time
• Driving in traffic
  
• Chronic posture stress such as holding a phone to your ear, carrying a heavy backpack, pocketbook, or child

The mechanical stress from these activities, week after week, forces your body to change in response to the unnatural stresses you’re placing on it.  Shoulders can handle lots of stress.  However, when you only use them in limited but repetitive ways some muscles become tight from overwork while partner muscles atrophy from lack of use.  Ligaments connecting the arm to the upper torso stiffen and restrict joint movement.  And one day you wake up with your shoulder feeling like you’ve pitched a baseball for nine long innings.

But your job requires you to use the keyboard all day, you have to drive to work or talk to on that phone,  what can you do?  The secret is to you move and exercise your muscles in the full range of motion, so everything gets worked and everything gets strong.  If you spend most of your day with your arms raised in front of you (typing, driving, etc.), be sure to do exercises that bring your arms out to the side, down against your legs, and up aboveyour head.

See Posture Science for more info on body compensation, adaptation and how posture distortions tighten overused MUSCLES, weaken underused muscles, stretch and distort ligaments, and pinch and traction nerves teaching the body to move in uneven, stressed motion patterns.

Related Conditions: Rotator cuff syndrome, Shoulders bicipital tendonitis, bursitis, golf injuries, arthritis,,impingement syndromes, joint dysfunction, nerve entrapment syndromes, performance care, post surgical adhesions, repetitive strain injuries, scar tissues formation, Postural Shoulder muscle strain; Pinched nerve in neck; Cervico-brachial syndrome; 

Self-Help Solutions: Shoulder Pain Relief

>Do Posture Exercises every day to strengthen posture. Focused and controlled motion finds and strengthens weak areas to relieve pain and rehab shoulder problems.   The StrongPosture^TM exercises in STAND TALLER~LIVE LONGER are designed to retrain whole body motion in a logical sequence.

>Be conscious of your posture

• Head tall and strong
• Shoulders back and chest open
• Pelvis Tucked and centered

>Change body position and posture frequently

• Adjust your chair ,car seat or anyplace you spend time often during the day
• Alternate which arm you use to carry loads such as a pocketbook or child

>KEEP MOVING- The Body Is Made To Move

• Take frequent body-stretch breaks
• Stretch your body opposite to the way you have been using your body.

>Best Sleeping Position for Shoulder Pain

• On your side, painful side up.  Try a pillow under your upper arm, and a contoured cervical pillow under your neck to keep head aligned with your spine.
• Change your sleeping position if you are  a stomach sleeper!

>Avoid regular use of aspirin, NSAIDs (Advil, Ibuprofen, etc) and over the counter pain medication to avoid stomach, liver and kidney damage associated with frequent use of these drugs. 
58% of people using NSAIDs more than 3 months have ulcers. NSAIDs cause 103,000 hospitalizations and 16,500 deaths/year (Wall Street Journal, 10/2006)
Try Topicals for equal or superior pain relief and use alternating hot and cold compresses (15-20 minutes) to relax tight muscles and relieve pain.

Consult a professional if pain is severe or persists over two weeks

Doctors of Chiropractic relieve shoulder pain by freeing locked joints to restore full-range mobility and alignment.  Chiropractors reduce mechanical stress to balance motion and nerve function.
Massage Therapists apply gentle pressure to relax muscle spasm and break up soft tissue & fascia adhesions to remove restrictions to full, balanced joint motion.
Osteopaths, Physical Therapists, Trainers, Coaches and other Posture Professionals also help sufferers of shoulder pain
FIND A PROFESSIONAL

SITE DISCLAIMER & Health Note : If there is no trauma and pain initially begins in the chest, if the pain is not affected by motion, or if there is fever, nausea, vomiting, uneven pulse, anxiety, a sick feeling, burning urination, loss of bowel or bladder control, or severe pain, call your Physician.