hi guys jason from mr physio
today i will tell you why you should stop massaging your shoulders
and i'll give you a good exercise to get rid of shoulder pain
a lot of people have shoulder and neck pain especially around upper trapezius
massage actually gives you a bit of relief
but it can actually make it worse and here is why
your arm weighs about five percent of your body weight
i'm about 70kg and my arm is about 3.5kg
so this 3.5 kg is always pulling my shoulder down
on top of that i've got gravity pushing my shoulder even further down
To win this downward force, we have to use our muscles
those muscles include upper trapezius, deltoid and rotator cuff
Among the three muscles, the most important is rotator cuff muscles
rotator cuff muscles hold the upper arm bone
they're the closest muscle connected to the shoulder joint
if these muscles don't do their job properly, your arm always goes down
this downward force always pulls your shoulder down
if that happens your shoulder always gets stressed out
because they have to fight against this stretching force
when your arm gets pulled downwards because of the gravity
your upper trapezius has to work harder but in a lengthened position
so it can't function properly because it's always being lengthened
if you put a prolonged stretch on your muscle, it is likely to get weak
and weak muscles easily gets tired or overworked
overworked muscles easily get sore so you have to pain in your upper trap
because these muscles get stretched out
then why would you massage and stretch these muscles even more?
instead we need exercises. those rotator cuff muscles have to be strengthened
so that your upper trapezius doesn't have to work too much
so i'm going to give you a simple exercise
lock your fingers like that with a bit of room between your palms
and push your fingertips onto your hands with little force
and then you try to pull your arms out to the side
so i'm doing this action but my hands are interlocked so they don't move
However, you're still using your shoulder muscles
because when you do this action, you create a force that takes your both out of your shoulder joints
it sounds scary but here is the theory behind it
i just told you rotator cuff muscles are the closest muscles connected to the shoulder joint
so if your upper arm tries to go away from the shoulder joint
those rotator cuff muscles are automatically activated
because this is their main job holding your arm onto the shoulder joint
that's what's supposed to happen in your shoulder joint
the weight of your arm and the gravity create a downward force pulling your shoulder down
we have to win against it and we are trying to improve that function with this exercise
you can hold that position pulling your arms apart for 5-10 seconds
that's level one and level two is to make circles
five times in one direction
the other five times in the opposite direction
level 3: you move your arms up and down
I'm still pulling my arms apart. just move up and down
be careful not to bring your shoulders up or forward
try to keep them in a neutral position and then just move your arms only
that's one set and you can do about three sets
but try five to ten times only on the first day and then slowly increase the intensity and sets
so today i explained why i don't recommend massage and stretching for tight shoulder
you can do a bit of massage before doing this exercise just to reduce the tension
but don't expect these massages will do something meaningful to get rid of the pain
it's always a proper exercise that troubleshoots the problem
I showed you the best exercise to improve the exact function of the rotator cuff muscles
so give it a go and do it with your family facing each other like that
i'll see you next time cheers