Shoulder blade pain doesn’t just happen. A repetitive shoulder activity or a one-time trauma to the shoulder has generally set the scene for the pain you are currently experiencing.
The body normally re-sets from repetitive physical shoulder activity and minor shoulder trauma imbalances during a good night of sleep; allowing you to start your day in-balance and feeling good. If this isn’t happening for you, then you either are not getting in to the REM cycle of sleep, which is when the re-set happens, or your repetitive activity or trauma is more than the normal sleep re-set can handle.
Examples of repetitive physical shoulder activity leading to shoulder blade pain are:
- gardening(bending to pull/twist weeds out of the ground)
- painting (brush, roller)
- playing viola/violin
- prolonged immobility
- riding in a car
- sitting on an airplane
- prolonged leaning forward with rounded-shoulders
- keyboarding
- gaming
- driving
- writing
- sewing
Sports activity such as:
- throwing a baseball
- swimming
- weight lifting
- push-ups
- fast running
- tennis
- excessive poling with downhill skiing
- Reaching into the back seat of the car
- Recent coughing due to asthma, bronchitis, emphysema
Examples of one-time traumas contributing to shoulder blade pain are:
- mastectomy
- breast reduction
- fall on shoulder
- physical blow to the shoulder while playing contact sports
- surgical repair to arm/shoulder
- car accidents