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The Doctors Book of Home Remedies II: Shoulder Pain

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Shoulder Pain

Even Atlas got a break every now and then from carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders--and you can bet he didn't use his free time painting the kitchen ceiling or trying to relive his youth on a tennis court.

But you? If you're like the majority of Americans these days, you have so many responsibilities to juggle at home, at work or both that it's a wonder Ringling Brothers hasn't offered you a job. But all that stress and strain is no clowning matter: It can give you high-powered shoulder pain as a main-ring event. Along with your knees, your shoulders are the most used joints in your body--and are commonly abused and injured.

Most shoulder pain usually results from one of two causes: Muscles and tendons may be injured from prolonged overuse, as can happen when you paint or garden for too long. Or they can get pinched between bones or ligaments, a process called impingement that frequently results from activities that require power strokes or throwing, such as swimming, tennis or softball. Whatever the cause, you may get symptoms that involve a steady aching pain, with intermittent bursts of sharper pain when you're in certain positions.

Moderating or stopping the offending activity--at least for a while--is the first step on the road to recovery. But in addition, here are some other ways to ease shoulder pain and help prevent a recurrence.

Exercise after your workout. "Shoulder pain often results from repetitive motion--whether it's caused by your job or by playing a sport such as tennis or softball," says Robert Stephens, Ph.D., chairman of the Department of Anatomy and director of sports medicine at the University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine in Kansas City, Missouri. "One of the best ways to remedy this problem, and help prevent it in the future, is to perform full range-of-motion stretching and strengthening exercises in order to compensate for these repetitive movements. For instance, if you have shoulder pain after playing tennis, perform some gentle stretching exercises such as rotating your arm inward and outward and doing slow, full arm circles (like the, backstroke and crawl stroke) in both directions.

"Stretching the muscles associated with the movement that's causing you the pain may help prevent muscle imbalances and ease the tension on the joints," says Dr. Stephens.

Try to Find the Why

All shoulder pain might hurt like the dickens, but not all the pain comes from the same source. To determine the probable cause of your problem, sports medicine specialist Charles Norelli, M.D., staff physiatrist at Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Hospital in Allentown, Pennsylvania, suggests you try these exercises.

"Hold your arm out and twist your wrist as though you were emptying a soda can, then raise your arm. If this causes pain, your problem is probably tendinitis," says Dr. Norelli.
"If the pain is in your right shoulder, grab your right elbow with your left hand and pull it across your body," advises Dr. Norelli. "If this causes pain, that might be an impingement sign--a signal that something in the bone or muscle is getting in the way." This problem may be remedied with specific range-of-motion exercises and light weight lifting.

Dr. Norelli points out that any severe shoulder pain requires professional medical attention. Heart attack pain, for example, can sometimes be transferred to the shoulder. While these quick "diagnostics" can give you a clue in many cases, if the pain is severe, be sure to see your doctor for a more thorough examination.

Use heat, but don't rely on it. Applying heat to a sore shoulder will help ease your pain, but it wont cure it.

"A heating pad to shoulder pain is what a microwave oven is to a bad sandwich: The sandwich tastes better warm, but if you let it cool down again, it'll taste just as bad as it did before you warmed it," says sports medicine specialist Charles Norelli, M.D., staff physiatrist at Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Hospital in Allentown, Pennsylvania. "In other words, you'll feel better while you have heat on your shoulder, but unless you fix the problem, you'll feel just as bad once you remove the heat."

Hoist some barbells. How do you "fix" shoulder pain? Besides practicing full range-of-motion exercises, lifting weights often helps, adds Dr. Norelli. "You want to strengthen rotator cuff muscles (behind the shoulder), and lifting weights is the best way to do that," he says. "Take a two- to six-pound barbell and lift it sideways, keeping your arm straight and your thumb pointing up. It's important to keep your thumb pointing up, because if it points down, you could be impinging your tendon."

Wear a muffler. If you notice more shoulder pain in the winter, then Mother Nature might be more to blame than an active lifestyle.

"A lot of times, people get shoulder pain because they're breathing cold air. The pain they feel is really referred pain from the lungs taking in freezing air," says A. J. Hahn, D.C., a chiropractor in Napoleon, Ohio, who specializes in natural remedies. "The answer is to wear a muffler or scarf during the cold months."

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