Shoulder Pain that comes from the neck
I’ve had a series of clients with shoulder injuries that are perplexed because they developed shoulder pain, but they are unsure how. Does this sound like you?
“I’ve never had shoulder pain, but I’ve woken up and now suddenly can’t move my shoulder. I can’t remember lifting anything heavy or any repetitive tasks that would have brought this on. It’s now hard to lift my arm, and it feels heavier than usual. My arm gets weak faster and hurts more as I move it.”
Yikes, that sounds rough. Nobody wants shoulder pain, especially this time of year when the leaves are falling and winter is coming. You want your shoulder to be in tip top shape so you can finish all the last-minute tasks around the house before snow comes.
What if I told you that the sudden occurrence of shoulder pain without a mechanism of injury is a good sign?
The injury might be coming from somewhere else. In about 50% of cases, it could be the neck.
We’ve referred to this study a lot at Break Free. The chances of a shoulder injury originating from the spine is 47.6%. This makes treating shoulders very tricky because there are different components.
We want to know if the problem is originating from the:
Muscles and tendons around the shoulder
Shoulder joint
Nerves that originate from the spine
The challenge with shoulder problems is trying to rule out the spine as a possible source of pain and weakness.
How do I know if my shoulder pain is coming from my neck?
There are some key pieces of information that can help us find this out. Here are some signs that your shoulder pain could be related to your neck. You can make a mental note of which points relate to you.
My shoulder pain gets worse when I:
Slouch while sitting, but feels better when I’m more upright
Sit for long periods of time
Bend or turn my neck
Stay still
You also might notice:
Neck tightness and limited movement
Tingling anywhere down the same arm you have shoulder pain
If you’re not sure if your neck is stiff, try looking in the mirror and move your ear to your shoulder. You may find one side doesn’t move as much as the other. You can also get a family member or friend to check if rotation is limited to one side.
Corey moving his ear to his shoulder to test his neck’s range of motion
Turning his neck so friends/family can check for limited range of motion
Location, location, location
Let’s dive into where you’d normally feel pain in your shoulder. What I find fascinating about the human body that every single client I meet is different. But you can experience pain or discomfort in the following areas:
The front of the shoulder
The back of the shoulder
The top of the shoulder running up towards your neck
The front of your upper arm
The back of your upper arm
Between your shoulder blades
On or under your shoulder blade
If your shoulder pain runs past your elbow, there is a greater chance that it could be nerve and neck related. Shoulder pain that is related to muscles or tendons are usually more local to the shoulder itself. One common muscle involved in shoulder and arm pain is the bicep, which runs in the front of your arm and attaches to the upper forearm region. The tricky thing is figuring out whether it is your bicep that is causing the pain or your neck. Another example is shoulder blade pain. It can be often mistaken as rotator cuff injury, but it may be originating from stiffness in the upper back or referral from the neck.
It is very challenging to self-diagnose without an extra pair of trained eyes. There are many muscles and nerves to consider. Receiving a comprehensive assessment from a trained physiotherapist who can tease out where the source of your injury is can give you peace of mind.
Your Job
There are several people this can happen to. A lot of these jobs require use of a computer or repetitive bending of the neck forward:
Doctors
Surgeons
Dentists
Dental hygienists
Office managers
Salespeople who are always on the road
Mechanics
This most commonly happens with people who work on computers. Any job where you are sitting for the majority of the day can expose you to forward head posture. Depending on the set up of your desk, it can encourage more upright posture, or alternatively the dreaded turtle neck position with rounded shoulders. If you’ve worked for a larger company, you’ve probably asked your human resource department to do an assessment of your workspace. Having a proper workspace with the monitor and keyboard at the right height can make a large difference in decreasing shoulder pain if it is coming from your neck.
One common pattern I’ve seen recently are people who have developed shoulder pain since working from home because of the pandemic. Instead of being in the office with your monitors at the proper height and an office chair with proper arm rests, you’re slouched on the couch and working at your kitchen table on a tiny laptop! Suddenly stooped postures become more regular and you may notice an increase in shoulder pain that develops slowly over time.
You’ve tried to fix it
There’s a good chance you’ve tried to do some self-massage or had to con your partner/family member to push on the sore spots of your upper back and shoulder to relieve pain. You’ve tried working in a multitude of positions. You’ve even tried standing or laying down to prevent your shoulder from being sore but there’s no clear pattern. Worst of all, it is inconsistent! You have some good days and some bad days. You’ve become increasingly frustrated and don’t know what to do. You’ve probably sought out a massage therapist to work out the knots in your shoulder and chiropractors to give you that satisfying crack in your upper back. However, the heart of the issue is that you always return to square one.
As time passes, you begin to fear that you have something more serious because it’s not going away on its own. You begin to play Dr. Google to find out what it might be. Suddenly you’re trying to figure out if you have frozen shoulder or some other serious condition. You then become concerned that you have a massive rotator cuff tear and you consult your doctor to see if an x-ray or ultrasound of your shoulder will reveal anything. It becomes more anxiety provoking to a point where you have trouble focusing on your day and lose sleep at night.
You are desperate to find a solution to identify the source and fix this permanently… But where do you go? What do you do?
Break Free Physiotherapy Can Help
We are here to help alleviate your concerns by helping you find the source of your injury. There are too many factors to consider which can create a lot of stress in your life. Our clinicians are trained to determine what the problem is so that you can take the guess work out of your injury.
We are skilled in:
Finding out whether the injury is coming from your neck and providing the right movement to get rid of the problem
Determining which muscle or tendon is injured and providing the right exercise to decrease your pain and get back to doing what you love
Talking with your health care team to send you to the right specialist if things aren’t going as planned.
We care about you and your injury and are looking to empower you. If you’re interested in booking a consult with one of our movement specialists, click here now!
Short Bio of Corey
Hey, my name is Corey, and I’m a co-owner of Break Free Physiotherapy and Wellness. I was born in Seoul, South Korea but grew up in London, Ontario. I finished both my Bachelor of Arts in Kinesiology and Master of Physical Therapy degrees at Western University. I’m passionate about helping people find pain relief through movement and believe in self-empowerment by sharing knowledge of the human body and its ability to heal. [full bio]
Corey Kim
Co-Owner and Physiotherapist
