Skip to main content

Pain in the inferior angle of the shoulder blade. Part 1

Got pain in the lower part of your shoulder blade? You may be barking up the wrong tree if your looking for a massage in that area to fix it. 
This is a complaint I see mostly in throwers, fighters, or people who like to bench a lot. This pain can be caused by a large number of issues but we will try to limit it to just a few for the sake of this blog. 
     The first thing you need to do is find the source of the pain. 
1) For most people it can be the over use and tightness of their pec muscles. The pec minor can be tight, causing it to pull on the top of your shoulder blade aka scapula. This can cause a seesaw effect and force the bottom of the scapula to poke out. This is also known as a winging scapula. When this pulling occurs, the muscles in the area of the inferior angle of he scapula will set off a pain signal because they are being over pulled and are trying to pull the scapula back in place. One way to loosen this pec muscle is to take a lacrosse ball or baseball and roll it under your collar bone and around the whole chest muscle. This will help to loosen the pec and relieve some of the pressure you will feel. 
2) Overactive internal rotators of the shoulder (subscapularis muscle) Can also cause this pain. There is a muscle that sits under the shoulder blade and it causes your shoulder to rotate inward. If this muscle is tight, it can cause the same seesaw effect as seen in example 1.  This is a hard muscle to reach, so you may need a therapist or someone who is knowledgable in soft tissue to get to this muscle. You can also do external rotation exercises with bands to help balance out the pull between the internal and external rotation muscles. 
3) Improper breathing can also be the cause of your pain. People often have shallow breathing, meaning they do not use their diaphragm to breath. They are what we call, chest breathers. This style of breathing will cause the same issues seen in example 1 because the pec minor is used in breathing. One way to counter this is to practice deep belly breathing. This will help to relax the pec minor, so it will not be overused. 
4) Weak or underactive serratus anterior muscle. The serratus anterior helps to keep the scapula down and against the body.  It is a stabilizer and protractor of the scapula. If this muscle is not doing its job, it will not protect the scapula and it will allow it to wing out. There are many exercises you can do to help activate this muscle. We do lots of band exercises for this as well as scapula push ups (protraction/ retraction in a prone position) 

We will end this blog here and call it part 1. There are a few more reasons for the pain in the bottom angle of the shoulder blade but we will save the others for part 2. If there are any questions so far, please feel free to email flofitness@gmail.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Quad & Hip Flexor Mobility & Flexibility

Why is it important to include mobility work for the quads and hip flexors? Tight muscles in the anterior compartment of the leg can cause a number of problems, two of which I will discuss in this blog. 1.     Tight quadriceps and hip flexors can put you at an increased risk for a hamstring injury. When people say that a muscle is “tight,” they are essentially saying that the muscle is chronically shortened. Without getting too much into the anatomical specifics, when the hip flexors are “tight,” or shortened, they pull on the lumbar spine. This pull on the lumbar spine increases the curve of the lumbar spine (excessive lordosis) and in turn causes an anterior pelvic tilt.  When the pelvis tilts anteriorly, the hamstrings (attached to the ischial tuberosity) can become excessively stretched/lengthened, which can lead to a strain. Therefore, by keeping the hip flexors and quadriceps at proper length, we can keep our ...
3 comments
Read more

Taking the NEXT STEP

Taking the NEXT STEP!! Im sure we have all reached a  point in our lives where we know its time to take that next step, next level, begin the next chapter in our life. It is by far  one of the scariest times for all of us. The point where we realize everything we have ever done has led us to THIS! This is our moment to shine and like Eminem says, " You only get one shot, do not miss your chance blow. Opportunity comes once in a life.".  The one scary thing is, you know after THIS moment, nothing will ever be the same.  Once you cross THIS line, you can not go back.  THIS is it and the pressure is on. They say, "Pressure bust pipes, but It can also make diamonds.", only you can decide what it does to you.  We all get to THIS moment, but few rise to the occasion. Few feel the fear and keep walking forward.  You can either step into greatness or step back into comfort.  Many will choose to step down and let THIS moment pass them by. Once they do that, the rest of t...
6 comments
Read more

Are you brave enough for a COLD SHOWER?

Why I Take Cold Showers And You Should Too For the past three years I’ve taken a cold shower almost every single day. You might think I’m crazy and at first; trust me, at first I thought I was too. But hold your judgment, hear me out, give it a try and then you can thank me. What are the benefits of cold showers? 1.     Improve Mood A 2007 study looked at how cold showers affected people with depression. Here is what the authors of the study hypothesized: “Exposure to cold is known to activate the sympathetic nervous system and increase the blood level of beta-endorphin and noradrenaline and to increase synaptic release of noradrenaline in the brain as well. Additionally, due to the high density of cold receptors in the skin, a cold shower is expected to send an overwhelming amount of electrical impulses from peripheral nerve endings to the brain, which could result in an anti-depressive effect.” The study ended up finding that cold showers of 2-3...
3 comments
Read more