When you get a massage, you probably have this experience:
You didn’t realize some muscle was very tender until it was pressed on. There are muscles that don’t hurt, but cause pain somewhere else, so you
never suspect those muscles are involved.
The scalenes are one of them
as introduced in “Pain Source in the Neck - Scalenes.”
Another example is infraspinatus (in-frah-spih-NAH-tus), which causes pain familiar to many people.
The muscle covers the major part
of the shoulder blades. It rotates
the arm outwards and helps stabilize the upper arm bone (humerus) in the shoulder joint.
PAIN PATTERN
If you feel pain in the
FRONT of the shoulder, deep in the
shoulder joint, or down the biceps, this muscle is in trouble. Other areas you might feel pain are:
the back of the neck, the inner border of the shoulder blade, the forearm, the
thumb side of the hand. And also,
if you have weakness and stiffness in the shoulder and arm, restricted movement of the arm, or pain when sleeping on either side,
bring your attention to this muscle in the back. And also, if you are diagnosed with “frozen shoulder,” dysfunction
of this muscle among other rotator cuff muscles may be the cause.
CAUSES
Anybody who keeps the arms up in front (driving, typing
without elbow support, using the mouse) or overhead (painting, decorating) for
long hours, or reaches back repeatedly, is likely to stress this muscle. And also, many sports activities,
accidents and falls may contribute to overload.
TREATMENT
To relieve the condition caused by infraspinatus, you can massage with a tennis ball as explained in “Tennis Ball Massage (1) - Back.” You can start in the middle of the shoulder blade rolling the ball side to side against the wall. You might feel the ropy thing and the referred pain in the front of the shoulder (or somewhere else). If you don’t feel anything, press harder. For some people, a firmer racquet ball is more effective than a tennis ball.
If you find the tenderness in the middle of infraspinatus, you can use this Ortho-Bionomy release technique. The following “Release for Shoulder Point 4: Turkey Wing” is referred from “Ortho-Bionomy A Path to Self Care,” the book I introduced in “Look for Comfort –Ortho-Bionomy®.”
- Stand with your back to the wall, and bend your elbow back. The position of your elbow should be slightly to the side rather than straight back.
- Lean your elbow slowly into the wall so that compression is applied from the elbow in toward the shoulder joint. Relax all the muscles at the shoulder, neck and arm as you lean. Focus on your sensation.
- Check the middle of infraspinatus for tenderness. If it’s still tender, change the elbow position slightly.