You put your coat on and feel a stab of pain go through your shoulder. You comb your hair more often with the other hand. You drive the car more often with one hand on the lower half of the steering wheel. It’s too painful at the top of the wheel. You come home from the office and your shoulder is stiff. You wake up and feel as if you had a “fold” in your shoulder. Your shoulder doesn’t work with you until you’ve been up and about for a while. These are all signs that something is going on with your shoulder.  

Problems with shoulder pain? Put on the brakes!

If you recognize yourself in the above, there’s a good chance that something is wrong. Most people choose to carry on in spite of their pain. It’s “not that bad” or “will pass”. And they go on with their lives. WRONG! Your body is trying really hard to make something clear to you and you are ignoring it. The only thing your body can do is to make the symptoms clearer: more pain, more numbness, more tingling, resulting in maybe a bursitis or frozen shoulder. Right up until it has a name, and until you finally pay attention to it. In other words, take every complaint, how insignificant it seems, very seriously!

Vague shoulder problems

The difficult thing is that doctors can’t do much if the cause of your shoulder pain is unclear. Or if the symptoms aren’t serious enough. With vague shoulder problems, you are advised to rest, but also to keep moving and take painkillers as needed. Doctors can only do something when the problems become serious or when the cause is very clear, such as with an accident or injury.

Causes of vague shoulder pain

If you’d like to find out what the causes of your shoulder problems might be, read about the following possibilities. Who knows, maybe you recognize something and can take measures.

1. You overburdened your shoulders
   Because of your work or home situation you make repetitive movements with your arm. Think about the work of a cashier, scanning products for too long at a time. Or working with the computer mouse for too long, causing RSI, Repetitive Stress Injury. Or lifting small children too often, such as people who work in day care. If you repeat this kind of movement too often, your muscles will ask for a rest. They want to take a break, relax for a moment, before they are tensed up again.
2. You overburdened yourself
   A common cause of shoulder pain is that you lift too much. Literally, like moving boxes when moving house, but also figuratively. You take more upon yourself than you should. Some people carry the responsibility for a whole family or an entire school. As soon as you realize that each person has his or her own responsibility and that it’s ok to let go, your shoulders begin to relax. Usually this happens when you just can’t go on anymore and have to let go of things. You can prevent this by looking now at everything you do to keep it all going.
3. Tension at home or at work
   This might be the main cause of your shoulder problems. There is a lot of tension in your life, either at work or at home, or both. Your body is screaming for a rest and a change in the situation. If you are not actively changing things, the problems will get worse until you are forced to rest and the changes come because it had to be taken care of. Many people choose the latter; they don’t actively deal with the problems (because they don’t know where to begin) and unconsciously wait until their bodies fail them.
4. Remembering an accident
   This is a very special cause. Years ago you had an accident. You fell, were hit by another car, whatever. I read the story of a woman who was bit by a dog in her shoulder 7 years ago! The cells in your shoulder remember the blow and want to deal with it. They want you to actively pay attention to what happened.
5. You don’t have any shoulder problems!
   That’s strange! You suffer shoulder pain when there aren’t any problems with your shoulder. The cause of your shoulder problems is rooted in something else. People with gall bladder problems or with the gall bladder meridian can experience shoulder pain. Or, for example, because of a pericardial infection, which according to Chinese medicine is the result of an excess of emotions that hasn’t been dealt with. MIR-Method coaches can test this for you, doctors can run tests and osteopaths can provide clarity about this. This last group of therapists, osteopaths, can identify the actual source by feeling the tension in your abdomen. An annual visit to the osteopath is definitely recommended!

What should you do with shoulder problems?

1. Find the cause! Whatever is going on in your life, do something about it! Go to a MIR-Method coach if necessary to have it tested for you through muscle tests.
2. Relax! Make a conscious effort to find activities that help you to relax. Lie down on the sofa, look at funny TV series to have a good laugh, get massages, etc. Become aware of how often you lay in bed with tensed muscles and consciously relax!
3. If an accident or fall is the cause of your shoulder problems, the solution is easy. Think about what happened to you. As soon as you remember bits of it, do the MIR-Method, while holding your shoulder. That’s all!  And take a rest!
4. Do the MIR-Method with your hand on your shoulder. Lay one hand on your painful shoulder. Do the MIR-Method by stroking that hand (or somewhere else on your naked skin). Your cheek, for example, or just letting your fingers slide against one another. Think of ways you can do this! Repeat until your shoulder problems are gone.

And how about you? Did you have shoulder problems and are you free of them thanks to the MIR-Method? I’d love to hear about it! Please write about it below. Thank you!

My wish for you is wonderfully relaxed shoulders!
Mireille Mettes

P.S. You would do me a big favor by forwarding this article to other people! Feel free to post it to your Facebook page or send it via e-mail, Twitter or Linked-In! Use the icons on the left-hand side! Thank you!

P.S. Are you not yet familiar with the MIR-Method? Please go to the homepage: www.mirmethod.com. You can watch the video there and also the instruction video. Register on the homepage to receive the newsletter and 6 weeks of coaching e-mails for extra support!