Don't ignore your shoulder pain
Nov 07, 2023
I was having a chat with my hairdresser last week after noticing her wince in pain as she reached upwards to a shelf. She explained how it was an unfortunate side effect of her job - one that she has to "just live with"
And this is a common problem I see. Injuries, aches, pains, tightnesses, stiffness, immobility...left untreated.
Usually the person believes there is no treatment for the aches and pains, seeing them as occupational hazards. And whilst this is partly true, your lifestyle does dictate how your body moves, there is always treatment, and there are BIG reasons why you shouldn't ignore the problem. Let me share a few below in relation to shoulders...
1 - Further pain
Your body is clever and will develop a movement habit to support your life. If you're a hairdresser with your arms raised all day, your shoulders and neck will tighten/shorten to support this lift. Equally if you are leaning over a laptop (with the best ergonomic chair in the world), your chest will get tight and shoulders will round.
The issue is that when one area shortens (tightens), the opposing muscles lengthen and weaken. This is the point when we get pain & poor posture - and by this point we have a tricky problem to resolve where seemingly unrelated issues arise...lower back pain, pelvic floor issues, knee pain, achilles issues, muscle pulls, pelvic pain...because the muscular system supporting the skeleton is out of whack, no joints are well supported and pain becomes wide spread...and to top it off the shoulders get tighter in an effort to hold you up (otherwise known as the coat hanger effect!)
2 - Core
In my 20 years of teaching i've see this time and again - shoulders living up round the ears and limited core strength. When the shoulders get this tight, the core lets go. The result...more of the same - pelvic pain, pelvic floor weakness and incontinence, abdominal hernia, diastasis recti, lower back spasms and pain, wider injury, lack of balance etc etc.
3 - It's gonna get boring!
Once the issues and pain spread more widely into the body, it becomes harder to treat. One exercise niggles one injury and another niggles somewhere else. Exercise becomes really tough. You end up moving through pain because its almost impossible to do anything without it!
And as for rehab...well this becomes really BORING, because it has to be so careful and tailored to avoid further impact! All love a respect to my beloved physios out there...but physio rehab is DULL, repetitive and specific...so much so that most people choose to live with the pain above doing their rehab!!
4 - It will impact your future and your fun
Movement will become hard work...you'll stop doing things you love. You'll struggle to lift your grandkids, play in the waterpark, take the cycling holiday or do the job you love. Life will become blimming hard work, energy sapping and restricted!
5 - Your pain means there is already a problem.
People often say things along the lines of..."I don't know what I did, it just went", or "it's always been fine, but it's suddenly sore"
I hope you can see from the above...it's never NEW. Injuries, pain etc take time to build up. Pain is the warning shot. Your body waving a red flag asking you to listen. So don't adapt around it, alter your life to cater for it, or worst of all - power through it! Listen to the cues...your pain means the problem is already there.
If you've made it to the end of this and any of this rings true for you...lets get you into my Weekly LIVE class because in November and December, we are focusing on SHOULDERS & POSTURE!
Living with pain is HARD WORK! Much harder than committing 40 minutes a week to overcoming it!
You don't have time for Pilates? Do you have time for the above...?
You cant afford Pilates? Can you afford not to?
Sessions begin on 15th November at 12.30 - 13.15, live on ZOOM or access to the replay for 7 days after.
Just £45 for 5 weeks
We will be focusing on shoulder mobility and strength, posture and upper body alignment. And I promise, I wont let it be boring!
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