The Wizard of Pain – the Mighty Infraspinatus
“it feels like a deep ache in my shoulder joint.”
If you are an anatomy nerd like me, hearing a client say that is
both empathetic and exciting. Empathy, because I’ve had that
particular shoulder pain before, and exciting, because it’s very
often caused by easily accessible trigger points in the back of the
shoulder. Let’s begin:
The infraspinatus muscle (IS) is one of the four rotator cuff
muscles, along with the supraspinatis,
subscapularis, and
teres minor.
The IS is a thick short muscle that externally rotates the ball
and socket of the shoulder joint. It also helps to stabilize the
shoulder socket when our shoulder is flexed – that is, our arms are
extend out in front of our body – like when we are typing on a
keyboard or looking at our smartphones, or playing the piano, or any
other number of tasks we do in our daily activities.
It’s easy for this muscle to become overworked or overloaded,
which leads to myofascial trigger points, or just trigger
points for short. Trigger points are characterized by being
“exquisitely tender”
hard nodule in a muscle or tendon. When you touch it, it hurts, and
often you’ll feel pain in a distant area as well. In the case of the
IS muscle, referred pain can feel like a deep ache in
the shoulder joint,
front of the shoulder, sometimes all the way down to the pinky
fingers.
Treatment
Massage is one of
the most effective methods of treating Infraspinatus Trigger Points.
A trained massage therapist can locate, treat, and eliminate them
quickly and easily, and the satellite trigger points that can
sometimes develop in the anterior deltoid and other places.
Get a tennis ball
and put it all the way deep in a sock. Tie a knot in the sock tight
up against the tennis ball. Now you have a self-massage tool you can
use to massage Infraspinatus Trigger Points. Find a tender point in
the lower part of the shoulder blade, use the ball to apply pressure
to it while leaning into the ball against a wall. Press and hold for
60-90 seconds, or until you feel the tender point diminish in
tenderness. You’ll feel relief in the deep shoulder pain almost
immediately.
So if you are experiencing the deep shoulder pain, give me a call at 916-534-8772 or book online.