You're not Fit

I had been feeling some general discomfort in my right arm for a few weeks, but this morning it was worse than usual. It was a cold morning, and it was dark in the gym. Thinking about it for a moment, I put my arms out in front of me, and lifted them both above my head.

Well. I tried to. My right arm flashed with pain. Nerve pain.

Fantastic.

This made no sense to me. In a twist of irony, I worked as a Physical Therapist Assistant. My job is about helping people with this issue. So what do I do now?

A common solution to this problem is to get a shoulder brace. It makes sense. You are having pain, putting on this orthotic relieves that pain, so now you just need to give yourself some time to heal and in a little while you won’t need it anymore.

This is a counterintuitive trap. By putting these supportive devices on, you now require even less strength than before. Eventually, you become reliant on using the orthotic. Taking it off results in aching and pains after a short while.

So, what’s going on?

A healthy, fit and strong body has resting tension in its muscles. This resting tension provides muscular integrity. Your shoulder (or glenohumeral joint), isn’t really held in by anything at the shoulder. It has some ligaments, but the majority of its stability is carried out by your muscles.

This structure allows for a significant amount of flexibility, at the cost of stability.

Treating my shoulder

Jumping back to my shoulder, I had a mild case of shoulder subluxation. Why did I get this? My muscles had degraded to the point that the resting tension was not able to keep my shoulder in place. I lifted, pushed and pulled frequently. So why did I have to suffer from this now? I shouldn’t be having to deal with this.

But I was. My lifestyle required a lot of moving and resistance exercises but despite this some muscles had not been used. Due to their neglect and unaware to me, they had become weaker.

I felt alarmed. As I looked at my shoulder, a small fear developed at the back of my mind that I would be permanently stuck with shoulder pain for the rest of my life. Clearing my mind and pushing through that anxiety, I grabbed some 10 lb weights and lifted my arms in that motion, tasting some nerve discomfort. I pushed through a small amount (push through discomfort, not pain!) and did as many repetitions as I could (about 10). Then, I repeated after a short rest until it felt fatigued.

Despite the nerve pain and discomfort, it felt good. Thankfully, as the weeks went by, my muscles began to strengthen and the nerve pain diminished and went away.

As my muscles strengthened, their resting tension had also increased. This property pulled my arm back into place. When I lifted my arm now, the tension kept it in place, preventing slippage and pinching the nerve. Thankfully, this problem hasn’t occurred since as I do try to get some exercises that cover this motion.

Ok, let’s back up and consider taking an alternate approach. Instead, I could have put on a shoulder brace and continue life like normal. This would work, for a little while. My weaker muscles would no longer feel as distressed since the shoulder brace is now handling the workload of keeping my joint intact.

As a result, the muscles are not required and can relax. As the weeks go by, my body will consider those muscles to be “less needed” and they will become further weaker. Overtime, when I remove the shoulder brace, those same muscles will then have to handle the workload it was already inadequate to handle.

Back Pain

Similarly to the shoulder, back pain is common for those who sit for long periods of time. You may not feel like you’re impacted, but you may stumble into it if you do something that suddenly stresses your back, anywhere from lifting boxes to riding ATVs.

In this case, there’s another thing to consider. Your musculoskeletal system is what provides your body stability. When your muscles are weaker, your skeletal system will take over. In summary, things become more painful, you wear out your body faster, and you set yourself up for future problems when you rely on your skeletal system for stability.

The solution is the same. You need to work out your back. You need to reach down, and lift things with your back. If you’ve had any amount of posture training, you are probably feeling alarms 🚨 in your head. Lifting? With your back! Lift with your knees!

Yes. You should always maintain correct posture when doing functional loads. Don’t go out and start lifting heavy loads with your back to get it stronger. Instead, do the Wood Chop and Good Morning exercises linked here. Your lower back should ache some after this. It’s not fun, and you’ll probably still deal with back pain during this time. But, keep it up and your back pain will diminish and go away.

Conclusion

It’s not wrong to use orthotics if you are aching or in pain. The danger from them comes when that is the only action that you take. You want to keep your muscles strong, because they do more than just lift and push things. They are your body’s way of staying together. The good news is this doesn’t require an extensive training program. Any amount of resistive exercises is going to give you benefits, and making sure to have a comprehensive coverage will avoid painful and uncomfortable situations. Taking care of your physical strength in this case is a preventive measure and applies to everyone.

Thanks for reading! (Note, my story about the nerve pain occurred around 2017, time flies!)