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Shoulder Pain in the Hand
Shoulder Pain in the Hand
I recently had a student come to 2 SMRT classes who had a shoulder issue. Her left shoulder had been in pain for over 2 years. Throughout the head & neck class she commented on how every move hurt her left shoulder. She didn’t know if she could SMRT, and SMRT was her last hope. Doing all other massage modalities were simply too much for her shoulder. This therapist had been worked on dozens of times and gotten no relief.
I worked on her briefly on Saturday morning, and told her that I believed the issue was in her hand. She looked at me as if she were humoring me and nodded. When I did the lecture for forearm I pointed out that many of the muscles we consider forearm muscles – like flexor carpi radialis, flexor carpi ulnaris, extensor carpi radialis longus and brevis, etc. – originate on the humerus and insert on the bones of the hand.
It’s all in the Wrist
The forearm work helped her shoulder. She had more range of motion and felt less pain. But when we did the hand work, she could feel her shoulder letting go as her partner worked. Layer by layer, she said, her shoulder pain dissipated. I had pointed out in class that we always have significantly fewer registrations for arm & hand than any other class, and how silly I believe this is because of how much the arm & hand can have an effect on.
As she was leaving, this student admitted to me that she hadn’t wanted to take the arm & hand portion of the our 3 days of training. She had only wanted to take head & neck, but she needed the CE’s. She was so glad she had stayed. Not only for her body and her pain, but what she now understood about several of her clients.
Register now for the Pittsburgh, PA SMRT: head & neck and SMRT: arm & hand classes.
