If you’re experiencing stubborn shoulder pain, but also feel tension in your neck, chest, upper back, or even get headaches, it’s no coincidence.
The truth is: our shoulder doesn’t work alone. It relies on support from our ribcage and spine. And it can be directly impacted by our posture, and even our breathing.
When any of those are out of balance, our shoulder has to pick up the slack, and that’s when pain, stiffness, and inflammation creep in.
So, I just recorded this video for you…
Join me as we delve into the often-overlooked link between shoulder pain and headaches.
✅ 1. Discover how your shoulder pain may be connected to headaches, chest tension, and neck stiffness.
✅ 2. How issues in your ribs and upper back can lead to a chain reaction of tension and discomfort. And why treating the shoulder alone may not be enough.
✅ 3. Understand why the pain often worsens at night
And one simple breathing and rib mobility technique, to help you release tension, restore movement, and start reducing pain, in your shoulder and the areas it connects to.
📺 Whether your shoulder pain shows up as a dull ache, a sharp twinge, or just a deep sense of tension, this video will give you fresh insight and practical tools you can start using straight away.
In health and gratefulness,
Warmly,
Sarah xx
Are you ready to ease your shoulder pain?
Rather read the transcript?
here it is…
Did you know that your shoulder pain and headaches may be connected?
If you often get tension, headaches, neck stiffness, or achy shoulders, your ribs and upper back may be the missing link. Have you ever noticed that when your shoulder hurts, you also feel a tightness in your chest or stiffness in your neck?
Or maybe you get headaches that seem to come out of nowhere? That’s not a coincidence either.
Today, I’m going to explain how shoulder pain can be connected to chest pain, neck pain, and even headaches, and what you can do about it.
Hello and welcome. I’m Sarah Gowans, remedial massage, craniosacral therapist, and emotional integration facilitator at Blossoming Me and the Healthy Learning Lounge.
Here we are a sanctuary for you to tap into, to nurture your journey to health, wellbeing, and a positive mindset. We focus on helping you to clear the stresses, tensions, and blocks that can hold you back from living your most fulfilling life.
And today we’re delving into how pain in our shoulder is often connected to pain in other areas like our neck, back, and even headaches. And how understanding these connections can enable us to take a more complete approach to our healing. Let’s break it down.
Understanding how hard daily life can be when your shoulder isn’t working well
From [heavy] lifting to pinpoint accuracy with our computer mouse or stylus, our shoulder joints are responsible for getting our hands in the right position for any function. When you realise all the different ways and positions that we use our hands every single day, it is easy to understand how hard daily life can be when your shoulder isn’t working well.
But our shoulders aren’t working alone. Our upper back and ribcage support our head and shoulders. When they’re stiff or misaligned, our muscles compensate and sometimes overcompensate, leading to tension, headaches, and shoulder pain. Let me explain the chain reaction.
Shoulder pain can spread to our muscles and fascia because they’re all interconnected. A tight rib cage can limit our breathing and put pressure on our chest and neck, which can also impact our shoulders. Our chest and neck, and our shoulders also in between. So they’re also impacted. Stiff upper back and shoulders can pull on muscles that are connected to our head, and that can lead to headaches, too.
Here are some other signs that our ribs may be related to the pain we have in our shoulder
- Are you suffering from headaches?:
After sitting at a desk or driving for a long period of time, slouching or spending hours looking down at a phone can tighten our chest and weaken our upper back muscles, leading to shoulder strain too. When our ribs and upper back are stiff, it can limit how well our neck can move.
This forces our neck muscles to work harder, and also pulls the muscle in our head that are connected to our upper back and shoulders. And this often leads to tension, headaches.
- Pain between our shoulder blades: Muscles between our ribs and upper back can become overworked if our posture is poor. Creating persistent aches, tension and pain that refer back to our shoulders.
- Neck stiffness in the morning: Restricted rib movement can cause excess tension in our neck while we sleep, making it feel stiff and sore when we wake up in the morning.
- Chest and rib pain: Our lungs, heart, and breathing muscles all impact our shoulder function. So tightness in our ribs can restrict movement and create discomfort, especially in the front of our shoulder.
- Back pain: Poor posture and muscle imbalances can cause strain in both our upper and lower back.
- Hand and elbow issues: If our shoulder pain restricts our circulation or nerve function, it can cause weakness and tingling in our arm or hand and pain at night.
This is quite common at night when inflammation, nerve compression or poor sleeping posture can make our shoulder pain worse.
So why does shoulder pain flare up at night?
Lying on our side can compress a tight shoulder joint more. Poor sleeping posture, such as lying on our stomach with our head turned to the side, may irritate our ribs and our neck, causing tension and pain. Reduced movement at night can also stiffen muscles, also increasing pain.
So what can you do today to help?
To help relieve tension. Here’s a quick breathing reset, a gentle rib mobilization technique that you might like to try standing tall.
Placing your hands at the bottom of your rib cage, taking deep belly breaths. Expanding our ribs as we inhale, and then releasing through the mouth. This can relax tight muscles and improve movement through our rib cage.
So I hope you found this video helpful. If you did, be sure to like it and subscribe for more insights.
If you’ve experienced these symptoms, leave a message below, leave a comment below, and let’s get a conversation started. Join us over the next couple of weeks for more tips to nurture your shoulder health and wellbeing. So that you and people like you can break free from chronic shoulder pain, and ultimately, some actions you can take to start feeling better sooner.
And to support your healing journey even further, I’ve created a Cheat Sheet series, “Recognising Signs of Chronic Stress and Small-t Trauma”. To help you restore balance in your body and regain your vitality!
Like a copy?
The link is below.
From my heart to yours, Namaste.
Sarah xx
At Blossoming Me, we’ve worked with so many people who feel stuck in cycles of pain and frustration. But the key to lasting relief often starts with understanding your body, not just where you hurt, but why.
Book your appointment here:
(Step #1 Location: Turramurra; #2 Type: Remedial Massage / Cranio-Sacral Therapy; select Sarah as practitioner, then #3 select: Initial or Follow Up Treatment)
Interested in further reading?
Relaxation Revolution: The Secret to Alleviating Lower Back Pain and Enhancing Your Well-being
How Stress Affects Your Shoulders and Jaw – and One Simple Tip to Relieve It
The Unexpected Link Between Your Shoulders and Wrist Pain
Release Shoulder Tension and Unblock Energy Flow in Your Lung and Large Intestine Meridians
About Blossoming Me
BlossomingMe offers a fully integrated approach to your wellbeing. Located on Sydney’s Upper North Shore. Sarah is our Cranio-sacral and Remedial Massage Therapist and health and lifestyle coach. She can help relieve those problematic knots, tightness and other specific ailments to promote a healthy recovery. These complementary massage therapies can be combined to suit your needs, and include: craniosacral therapy, shiatsu, acupressure, reiki, remedial, swedish, and body-mind-massage.
Our qualified Osteopath, Alexis, offers a drug free, minimally invasive, “hands on” treatment focusing on the musculoskeletal system with its associated muscles, tendons, ligaments, membranes, bones and joints. Alexis takes a functional approach. This means that she focuses on the way a component (body part, tissue or group of tissues) performs its role, as well as the way the body works, performs and integrates as a whole. Our team can support you to improve your posture and therefore your overall health.
ional advice or care. Please seek the advice of a qualified health professional before you make any changes to your health regime, before dealing with new symptoms, and, if something you have read here has raised any questions or concerns regarding your situation.