Pressure Point Therapy to Relieve Shoulder Pain

 

So today, I’m going to cover some information on how to relieve shoulder pain with pressure point therapy. 

Now, one out of every four adults will suffer from shoulder pain. So that’s quite a few people that can have shoulder pain over their lifetime. 

What Causes Shoulder Pain?

Now, the pain in the shoulder comes from a pinched nerve in the neck. It can come from the muscles that are all part of the shoulder, such as the rotator cuff, the traps (which are the upper part of the shoulder), the deltoids (which cover the shoulder and arm), and the rhomboids (which are a group of muscles between the spine and the shoulder blade). Those can be very painful. 

Now, pain can also come from the joints. There’s a joint near your throat at your collar bone. Some people get pain there, not too many. Most of the pain is on the other end of your collar bone where it meets the shoulder at the AC joint (or the acromioclavicular joint), the arm bone joint. So those are the major areas that can cause pain.

What Is Pressure Point Therapy, and How Does It Work?

Now, let’s look at the muscles. So, in treating the muscles, what we do is called pressure point therapy. Now, pressure point therapy is a soft tissue technique, like massage therapy. It’s a massage therapy technique actually. But when we treat pressure points, we’re going to use our thumb or finger to treat a specific area or a specific point. Some of the points that we treat with pressure point therapy, in regards to a patient that has shoulder pain, include the neck, around the shoulder blade and spine, and on the shoulder itself.

Now, one of the great things about massage therapy and pressure point therapy is that when you apply pressure to a muscle, it actually relieves pain, and it increases range of motion. It decreases the pain, as I said, relieving pain. In many instances, people will have a better ability to sleep, and really, a whole bunch of other things occur that improve the functionality of the patient by doing pressure point therapy.

So again, pressure point therapy is a soft tissue technique using pressure and the areas that we would treat with a person that has shoulder pain can include the neck and upper back area as well as the shoulder. 

Why Choose Pressure Point Therapy?

Now, in using pressure point therapy, you could also look at ultrasound and electric muscle stim as viable options. In my office, I prefer to do pressure point therapy because I believe that pressure points are a much faster way to resolve the problem. You can treat a larger area in a shorter period of time than ultrasound and electric stim. It’s really good, it kind of ties in together well with chiropractic care, because chiropractic is a hands-on technique, and so is pressure point therapy. So pressure point therapy increases blood flow, increases nerve flow, and improves muscle tone.

Now, lastly, keep in mind that pinched nerves are the basis of many of the problems that develop with the shoulder. So if you have some shoulder pain, likely you have some kind of neck problem going on too. So that requires some pressure point treatment, as well as chiropractic adjustments. 

Visit Mattingly Chiropractic to Relieve Your Shoulder Pain

Our phone number is (314) 635-1008. If you have some shoulder problems and would like to come in for a free pressure point therapy treatment, give us a call. We look forward to seeing you in the office.