If it’s become hard to lift your arm you may have a “frozen shoulder.”

The muscles around the shoulder joint can go into spasm and prevent the natural movement of your arm.  That’s why it’s called “frozen shoulder.”

If you didn’t hurt to lift your arm yesterday but it suddenly does today–or if you became unable to raise your arm following an injury or fall–there’s a good chance that muscles are causing the restriction in your range of motion (rather than the joint itself).

The deltoid muscle is a common culprit.  It is at the top of your arm.  It is the cap muscle.  You can treat it by seeking tender areas of muscle and pressing, massage or pinching them.

The subscapularis is another common culprit.  It can be treated by pressing into it.   It is sandwiched between your ribs and your shoulder blade so the pressure has to go between the back ribs and the shoulder blade.  It’s usually accessed near the armpit.

The subscap (for short) is not easy to press into yourself but you can still do some self-help like this:

Get down on all fours and pretend you are a lion and lift and roll your shoulder blades as you ‘walk’ like a lion.  Doing this will help stretch the subscap.  Roll those shoulder blades!

When I fell backward years ago (before I got into this field and know what I know now) I woke the next morning and was unable to lift my arm.

I went to physical therapy for Continue reading Two Most Common Causes Of Frozen Shoulder →