You must be wondering why your shoulder tension won’t go away, even after a massage, seeing a hypnotist, or hiring a healer.
Want to know what I think? I can’t hear your response, so I’ll assume your answer is Yes.
Your shoulders stay tense because the problem that causes your shoulder tension isn’t even a muscle, and usually is in a different place in your body.
Very often – perhaps most often – shoulder tension that won’t go away is the result of posture, a lack of flexible core strength, or rib restriction.
It’s not that looking at your phone constantly to see if I’ve sent you another newsletter doesn’t matter. That also goes for sitting endlessly at a desk editing what feels like the same spreadsheet while you wince at the sound of your horrible coworker’s horrible voice. It’s not that stress can’t cause tight shoulders. But often, maybe usually, correcting or limiting those stressors doesn’t solve the problem of tight shoulders.
Your shoulders have to stay tense when
- your pelvis is out of alignment, shifted, or tilted (forward or backward).
- you don’t have a flexible and powerful core, with muscles that can engage and release so you move with grace no matter what kind of movement you’re doing.
- you have restricted ribs.
My experience is that when these issues are addressed, people with chronic tension in their shoulders finally experience some relief.
Blame It on Your Pelvis
Many people have pelvises that are not situated over their ankles. When that happens, the ribcage has to lean the other way, or you fall over. In anatomical terms, what you call “your shoulders” is actually the top of your ribcage. (Please, email ten friends – we need to get the word out.)
Getting the pelvis into proper alignment and learning to keep it there is what most people need to relieve chronic shoulder tension.
If you want to perceive and correct the position of your pelvis, your best bet is to take my posture class. You can find the details here. You can also come to my office, or have an online session with me, where l can address the important muscles of posture, and teach you how to work on your particular postural tendencies.
But you can jump-start the process now by stretching your hamstrings and your psoas. If you’re not sure how to do that, you can look around online, or let me know and I will help you.
Got Flexible, Powerful Support?
Remember when we were circus performers together? Well, I do. And one of my fondest memories was the big pole when we walked on the tightrope. Is this coming back to you now? We did that so we could substitute the grounding we weren’t getting on the high wire with shoulder tension that could also manage our balance. Even the little umbrella that tightrope walkers carry helps in that way.
For those who haven’t enjoyed the rich and varied circus career that we did, an analogy is holding your arms out when you’re on slippery ice or feel like you’re going to lose your balance.
When the core can’t manage the weight of your trunk and head gracefully over two moving legs, shoulder tension helps you do the job. And if that gets to be a habit, you’ll have tension that nobody can rub away.
My posture class, Alexander technique, Feldenkrais, Pilates – and other forms of training that focus on grace and balance in movement – can help.
Exercise that’s only focused on strength building won’t get the job done. It’s not enough to be strong; you have to be resilient and flexible, too. You need to know when to turn your muscles on and when to turn them off – and that knowledge has to happen with lightning speed, at a preconscious level. By the time you’re thinking about your balance and tense muscles, it’s too late.
Those Rock-Hard Muscles of Yours ARE BONES.
If I had a nickel for every time a client said their massage therapist told them they had the hardest shoulders they had ever worked on, I would be a rich man today. (Note to myself: start collecting that nickel.)
The muscles felt very tight because they weren’t muscles. Your ribs go all the way up to what you think of as the base of your neck. When they are restricted, they can be extraordinarily painful, often leading people to believe they’re having a heart attack or a punctured lung. Most of the time, though, it’s a feeling of tightness and pain in the shoulders that won’t go away with stretching or massage.
Restrictions can work themselves out and there are stretches you can do to stay supple. But I have to say rib restriction is a condition for which chiropractic care and joint mobilization is ideal.
Your shoulders can get softer and more relaxed. And it will take gumption and commitment. That’s because posture is a habit, and habit means you’re unaware of what you’re doing. Becoming aware doesn’t happen overnight.
But I’m sure you understand that the alternative is also going to take it out of you.
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