Pain in my shoulder blade: what can I do about it?

What makes up the shoulder blade?

I often hear “why is there pain in my shoulder blade?” so I thought I would explain why that is.  The shoulder blade is a really interesting structure for anatomy nerds.  Most joints in the body are created by 2 bones each covered in cartilage gliding back and forth over each other.  The shoulder blade has no cartilage on its underside and sits on multiple ribs and even slides completely off of some ribs and onto others as the arm is moved.  Both flat sides of the shoulder blade are covered in the broad flat muscle bellies of the rotator cuff.

Mercifully because of their broad flat insertion it is quite rare for these muscles to get torn.  Also they tend to have a stabilising role and so don’t generate massive spikes in force unlike the deltoid or pecs muscles which also makes it quite rare the muscles get injured as they sit on the shoulder blade

So why do I have shoulder blade pain?

Many people have experienced, or know someone who has, sciatica.  This is when the low back refers pain down the leg.  In the same way the joints, discs and nerves of the thoracic spine (the bit of your spine where your ribs attach) refer pain around the ribs.  Often people with sciatica complain about a sore hip, knee and foot because that is where most of our nerve endings sit, in a similar vein people experiencing thoracic spine referral get pain in their shoulder blade and possibly the cartilage at the front of the chest by the breast bone.

How can I tell if the shoulder blade pain is from my spine?

Some times the cause of your pain can shed light on this.  Did your pain come on after sitting in a slumped posture for a while? Was it caused by an injury where you twisted your spine?

If not does your back feel stiff while twisting or does twisting increase your pain?

There are some more technical tests which can be done at Pure Physio Albany but this can give some good ideas.

How do we book in with Pure Physio Albany to fix shoulder blade pain?

To book expert physio with Pure Physio click here. Or to book an appointment give us a call on 09 4481277 to sort an appointment which suits you.