Shoulder Blade Pain Relief

Shoulder blade pain is a constant nagging pain which is difficult to manage. It has various forms like pain in left shoulder blade, pain in right shoulder blade, back pain between shoulder blades, pinched nerve shoulder blade etc. It has been found that if there is any problem in shoulder blade, back pain is almost inevitable. The intensity of the shoulder blade pain may vary from mild to acute. However, the discomfort associated with it is very bothersome. People often lose their focus from work and their daily activities get affected due to this kind of shoulder pain. This is because there are several large muscle groups present in that region. At times, the pain in shoulder blade becomes so bad that the patient starts losing hope that he will ever get relief from it. By shoulder blade pain relief, we do not mean just relief from pain but also mean normalizing the life of the suffering person.

Causes of Shoulder Blade Pain

The shoulder blades are kept in a fix and stable condition with the help of various muscles, tendons and ligaments. The most common cause of shoulder blade pain is over stretching of these muscles, tendons and ligaments that may result in inflammation. It can be due to overuse of shoulder, incorrect posture or some shoulder blade injury. With aging, the soft connective tissues of shoulders get degenerated naturally and may result in shoulder blade pain. It can be caused due to arthritis as well. In certain severe cases, shoulder blade pain may be a symptom of some underlying health condition like heart attack, gall bladder disease etc. Some forms of cancer like esophagus cancer or lung cancer may give rise to shoulder blade pain. To know more read on:

• Pain Under Right Shoulder Blade
• Pain Between Shoulder Blades

Some Pain Relief Methods

When you are suffering from pain under shoulder blade, the first thing you need to do is to keep a watch on your day to day activities. Cut down on all those tasks that put some additional amount of pressure on your shoulder area. For this reason, you have to take more rest after regular intervals of time, in such a way that the shoulder blade region is properly rested from time to time. It could be done either by lying flat on the floor or by supporting the back on a chair with back rest.

It has been found that any kind of pain gets aggravated when a person is under stress. Therefore, for quick pain relief, it is important that you keep yourself in a relaxed state, both physically as well as mentally. If your work schedule is a hectic one, then its time for you to slow down a bit, as far as your work is concerned. Take some time off and unwind your mind and body for shoulder pain relief. Acupuncture can help you in tackling the stress related issues.

Ice massage or application of cold packs on the shoulder blades is helpful, particularly if there is some inflammation in the shoulder blade. However, make sure you do not apply the ice directly on the shoulder blade. Always wrap it up in a piece of cloth and then apply for shoulder blade pain relief. It has to be applied at least thrice and the duration of each application should be around 15 minutes. This way the pain gets reduced and this in turn brings down the inflammation too. Hot packs are also good for shoulder pain relief. On application of heat, the blood circulation in the muscles increases and relieves the pain to some extent.

When such remedies do not seem to work, then you should take some medical advice. Doctors mostly prescribe non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. In extreme cases, they may also opt for steroid injections in order to relax the muscles. Sometimes, a sling around the shoulder restricts the movement of the shoulder area and thus, offers a stability to the shoulder area. If the shoulder blade pain is because of some other reason, like gall bladder disease then surgical procedures may be needed.

Vitamin supplements like vitamin C, vitamin D, other nutritional supplements for calcium, phosphorus provide strength to the overall skeletal framework of the body and are hence, recommended to those who are suffering from shoulder blade pain. However, health care professionals should be consulted prior to the consumption of any of the supplements. The regular diet of the patient should be rich in protein and carbohydrate too. Protein is good in building the muscles and carbohydrates meet up the energy required for the repair work.

There are many simple exercises that you can do on your own and are capable of providing muscle pain relief. Stretching exercises are particularly the most effective ones for shoulder blade pain relief. Yoga is also excellent to get rid of muscle fatigue and provide muscular pain relief. Those people who are overweight are more prone to shoulder blade pain, as the extra body weight puts additional strain on the back and shoulder blades. Therefore, in order to relieve the shoulder blade pain obese people must lose weight. Thus, you can see that for shoulder blade pain relief, apart from the medical attention, it is essential for the patient suffering from it to bring about some changes in lifestyle.