Ask Team Beech Street: Tight Shoulders
Photo by Viktor Talashuk on Unsplash
Q: The muscles surrounding my shoulder blades are always sore and tight. What can I do to help loosen them?
A: Muscle tension in the shoulder girdle can be the result of a previous injury, chronic stress, poor posture biomechanics or a sign of an underlying health condition. When experiencing tight or sore muscles in the shoulder region implementing a few simple changes into your daily routine can help alleviate muscle tension and increase shoulder range of motion.
Here are a few tips to help decrease muscle tension:
Performing a muscle warmup before daily activities is a beneficial way to reduce the chance of musculoskeletal injury. Begin with gentle shoulder rolls, neck semi-circle motions, swinging the arms back and forth and side to side before moving into a more dynamic stretching routine.
Focus on stretching the neck, shoulder girdle and spine performing chin tucks, shoulder rolls and cat cow spinal stretches.
Breathing and stress reduction exercises are an excellent way to decrease tension across the shoulder blades. When taking shorter breathes the accessory muscles between the neck and shoulders are more activated. Learning to take deeper thoracic breathes can be helpful in alleviating stress on these muscles.
Bringing your awareness to your shoulders throughout the day allows you to actively work on relaxing your shoulders and relieving muscle tension in that area. If you are working at a desk, it is important to implement breaks throughout the day to reduce tension in your lower back and chest area.
The shoulder joint comprises of the collar bone, scapula, and glenohumeral “ball-and-socket” joints along with multiple muscle attachments. Having good posture and proper body alignment decrease the chance of weak back muscles and increased spinal inclination, which are risk factors for developing limited range of motion in shoulder joints.
If you are having trouble with sore muscles or shoulder mobility seeing your osteopath or physiotherapist for treatment and a tailored exercise routine can be beneficial.