Shoulder pain can occur in a variety of places around the shoulder and almost always muscles are at the root of the problem.
Unhappy muscles cause most pain. Our goal is to keep our muscles happy.
The following request for help is very specific about the location of the pain: the bottom half of the shoulder blade and the outer side of the shoulder blade near the armpit. Using a movement with the arm in front of the body makes it worse.
Here is the email:
“I really need your help for my shoulder problems from which I am suffering from past many years.
I am getting pain on my right shoulder, on the lower half of the scapula muscle(Teres minor and major area) of my shoulder. The pain exists at approximate all the time but increases if I repeatedly do an activity (A simple activity like holding a book will aggravate the pain). I can always feel their is a difference between my right shoulder and left shoulder because of the pain.
I have shown to many doctors and had done many tests but they could not come out with any conclusive results. Their advice was just to strengthen my shoulder muscles and to do some physical activity.
Whats the best way to strengthen my shoulder. Will joining gym will be a good option or doing Aerobics .
Please suggest if something better can be done.
Thanks,”
Here is my response:
Based on the information you gave me, here is my best thought. You did not say you are right handed, but I bet you may be. This area often becomes aggravated on the side of the dominant hand.
Thank you for your kind words about my website. I appreciate the opportunity to be helpful to people.
Here’s what I suspect: (a) The muscles in the area you have pain can get “tight” because they are being overstretched (your arm is not next to your body, rather it is stretching forward to reach) OR (b) they can get tight because you hold your elbow slightly BEHIND you.
The solution for (a) involves:
- strengthening your back and there are simple directions at SimpleStrengthening.com
- stretching the muscles in your chest and the front of your arm
- bringing your arm into neutral, close to your waist, when you work rather than reaching forward, and
- massaging the painful area and the area that surrounds it.
Massage and changing the position of your arm will also help (b).
So, what kind of massage will help?
In this case, the muscles that are involved are usually where the pain is so that is the area to treat. You can use ice massage or ice packs, you can go to a professional massage therapist, or you can ask a friend or family member to “pinch” that area.
As the tissues have become tight, contracted, or bound together, pinching is an easy way to release them and get the circulation flowing again. Yes, it will hurt a bit. In fact, if it isn’t uncomfortable your helper isn’t pinching enough.
The idea is not just to pinch the skin but to grab as much of the muscle and tissue as possible and pinch or compress it for several seconds up to 30 seconds. If they can do this to the whole area, that would be ideal. Do several pinches. Later, after perhaps 10 minutes or so, you will notice that the original pain has diminished or is completely gone.
You may also press into the area of the teres (armpit near shoulder blade) and yes, it will also be tender.
Tender or uncomfortable means it is tight and needs to be released. You may be able to do this yourself or you may be able to accomplish it by laying on a tennis ball and using that as a tool to press against your lateral scapula (outside of your shoulder blade). Again, ice massage is an option.
There is a lot of information about how to find a massage therapist who can specifically help you at CarpalTunnelPainRelief.com Just scroll through the Categories to Massage. Look around at the other Categories, too, if you wish.
If you look at the Self Help Category, you will find more info that will be helpful even though you don’t have carpal tunnel syndrome. Why? Because all parts of our body are attached to every other part!
Here is one article that I think will help:
Please write again if you need more detail or want to add any additional comments or symptoms about your shoulder pain.
Best wishes to you for speedy pain relief,
Kathryn Merrow
The Pain Relief Coach
I have the same kind of knots in my shoulder muscle that is really painful.
It has restricted the things I can do because when I lean forward and put my arm down towards the ground, my arm will start tingling and going numb. If I have my arm in the wrong position, my arm will start going numb.
I have went to the doctor and they sent me for a nerve test where they stick needles in your arm, and they shock you.
I didn’t see the point.
I just want some answers for my problem.
Anyone have an answer for me?
Thank you and Peace.
Hi Becky,
Muscles are usually the cause of this type of pain. Sometimes nerves are involved but that is generally because something is pressing on them. That something is most often muscles. I’m thinking (this is my best long distance guess) that the muscles in your neck called the scalenes are pressing on the nerves in your neck. A skilled, well-educated massage therapist can help you release these muscles or you can learn to do it yourself.
Please keep looking through the articles on this site (check the Categories) and also go to http://SimpleBackPainRelief.com where there are more articles.
There are muscles in your chest which may also be part of the problem. Also, if you go to http://SimpleStrengthening.com you will find articles that can help you strengthen your back easily. In bed, actually. Part of the problem is weak back muscles.
I hope this helps. Don’t give up. Muscles are at the root of an awful lot of our pain symptoms. By treating the muscles that are causing the problem (not the symptom muscles but the causing muscles) we can get rid of the knots in our backs.
Kathryn
I really need your advice. My husband has this exact problem. He had a 10 foot 2 x 4 fall on his head from 30 feet above at work and ever since then he has been having this pain. At first his neck was terribly sore and stiff but that went away and this pain has stayed going on 6 months now. He has had physical therapy and massage therapy. Neither have helped a lot. He is in constant pain from the muscle spasm right there at the bottom of his left shoulder blade and then under his armpit is sore as well. I want soo badly to help him. I have just started massaging him myself and I have told him about the stretches your recommend and he just started them today. Is there anything else I can do to help him? I have just found your site this morning and find everything you say to be right on. He is in a lot of pain and he seems so much weaker then he normally is. He does anything with that arm and he has to stop and take breaks, which drives him nuts. He is a very hands on guy and not being able to do things is really starting to get to him. I have been trying to “pinch” the muscle but I think I am afraid of hurting him. I am going to try again tonite. Thank you for having your site, it makes me feel better that someone knows exactly what we have been trying to tell the doctors is wrong but it seems they just are not listening.
Hi Bonnie,
It’s not that the doctors aren’t listening–they don’t get what you are trying to say. It’s like speaking in a different language because most doctors don’t understand muscles or the causes of pain. Don’t be worried about hurting him, please. It’s unfortunate but sometimes we have to really cause some discomfort to help muscles relax. Let your husband be your guide. He will be able to tell you if the pinching feels inappropriate or like “good pain.” When it’s the right thing to do, people say it’s “good pain.” 🙂
It’s okay to start slowly and press the area and massage it to warm the muscles first (maybe 5 minutes?) and then do the pinching second. The pinching will still be uncomfortable but a bit less because the muscles will be more ready.
Also, Bonnie, even though the feelings of stiffness and pain in the neck has gone away, the muscles in that injured area may still be tight and may still be causing the pain lower down. Most Physical Therapists aren’t hands on and many massage therapists don’t work deeply enough to help muscles relax. Find a picture of the trapesius muscle and let that be your guide for where to “pinch” in addition to picking up the muscle below the arm as this article suggests.
Also, beside the exercises in this article, he may wish to do some inversion. He can either use an incline bench or an inversion table or hang from his knees if he can do it safely. It doesn’t have to be totally upside down. The idea is to lengthen the space between the spine bones in his neck and upper back and this can happen on an incline bench or even a bed with the legs propped up on one end. The head is positioned on the lower end of the table or bed. If the nerves in his neck are crabby and causing the pain lower down, stretching the neck can help. (Muscles can cause crabby nerves.)
You are a good wife! I will look forward to hearing back from you.
I hope this helps your husband get rid of the pain in his shoulder blade/armpit area.
Kathryn
I am having the same exact pain. I woke up 5 months ago with neck and shoulder pain (on the top of shoulders) and then moved to both outer shoulder blades. I went to my dr who sent me for cervical and chest ct. I then went to an orthopedic surgeon who sent me for a shoulder and thoracic spin MRI. It came back with some rotator cuff tendinitis. I’m not sure where to go from here though. The ortho gave me 2 cortisone injections, the first one lasted about 6 weeks and the second about the same. They do help my shoulder, but not the shoulder blade. My pain is on the outside of both shoulder blades near under arm. They ache and are just very uncomfortable. I just started going to a chiropractor last week. So does my pain sound muscular and if so would it last 5 almost 6 months?
Hi Cristi, Yes, muscular pain can last months and months. Yes, there are muscles in the area you describe. It sounds like the muscles in your upper back are now pulling on the muscles in your painful area. Or, perhaps the armpit area pulled on your neck and that’s just where you noticed it first.
The good news appears to be that your tests all came back okay. That also points to muscles. Most chiropractors move bones rather than muscles. But muscles move bones so it makes sense to treat the muscles first.
Christi, look at your posture. Are you bent forward? Do you have rounded forward shoulders? Do you lead with your head? Any of those things will aggravate (strain) the muscles in your upper back and shoulder blade areas.
There are articles that can help you strengthen your back so you can have better posture at http://SimpleStrengthening.com
I hope this helps you get rid of the pain on the outside of your shoulder blades under your armpit.
Kathryn
The Pain Relief Coach
Thanks for your comment. I’m still going to the chiropractor, but it’s really not helping much. It has been 7 months and I’m still having pain in the outer parts of my shoulder blades near my underarms. I had a Neuromusclar massage last Sat and I feel like it helped some. I had less pain throughout the week. My shoulder blades still felt uncomfortable, but less pain. I had another one today and this time she did a Swedish massage and wants me to let her know when I come back Friday which one seemed to help more. I did feel more sore this afternoon than I did last Saturday. As far as my posture yes my shoulders are forward and rounded. I don’t work so I sit a lot and slump. My physical therapist said she thought it had some to do with my posture. I just wish I knew a way to get rid of this annoying feeling/pain. Another thing that bothers me is driving in my car. My seats kind of round out on the sides and its almost where my issue is and it bother my shoulder blades. I sometimes think that I’m making myself worse or at least not helping myself get better. I get down and I start searching the Internet and try to diagnose myself and end up scaring myself and driving myself crazy. So my symptoms sound muscular to you? Do you have any advise of any other thing you could think of to help me get better? Thanks 🙂
Hi Christi,
Nice to hear from you again!
I would bet almost 100% that your symptoms are muscular. Your money may be better spent going to the neuromuscular therapist since the chiropractor isn’t making much difference.
Your physical therapist is right: Your posture is involved and there is no maybe about it. 🙂 Go with the Neuromuscular therapy. IF the massage therapist uses the same patterns for Swedish, it could help, too. But if she is just doing a Swedish or relaxation routine, it won’t.
With the NMT (neuromuscular) there are patterns that the therapist can look for and treat. And, that’s the one that helped you the most. The muscles in the front of your body (pec minor and abdominals) need treatment to help them relax. The muscles in front are VERY important for pain such as yours. She can also work on the outer sides of your upper back, below your arm pits. It may be pretty intense–that means the muscles are tight and need to relax. If it is too uncomfortable, remember to tell her to lighten up.
Since you don’t have to sit and slump at work, take some time to work on your posture at home. Please go to http://SimpleStrengthening.com to find simple, easy movements that you can do at home & in your bed. You will just have to sift through the articles to find the best ones for you. It’s another of my natural pain relief websites.
I know what you mean about the car seats. Seats like that bug me, too. You can pad up the center section to keep your shoulders from rounding forward. You might have to use some creativity. One way might be to slip a tee-shirt over the seat and place a folded towel in the center section between the rounded-out sections. Or get a piece of foam from a craft store that will fit into the center of the seat back.
If you go to http://CarpalTunnelPainReliefNow.com and scroll through the Categories to the Video category, you will find several self-help videos with movements that you can start to do. I don’t know your age or physical condition, but just start slowly with a couple of movements at a time and over the next week you will be able to start doing more and more. Sometimes when you do something (like squeeze your shoulder blades toward your spine) you will say, Oh, that feels good! That’s a clue that your body needs it. 🙂
I hope this helps. Stop making yourself crazy. Take good care of you,
Kathryn
The Pain Relief Coach