I got a question from a client who is working through the Shoulder Pain Solved program.

Hi Rick,

I was really excited to try your program!

I have really super tight upper
back/shoulder/neck issues.

The stretches for the neck, posture, breathing
and trigger point stuffs with the tennis ball felt great right after I do it
 but now my back/neck/shoulder feels even tighter!

Am I doing something wrong?

Am I working the trigger points too hard?
Stretching too much?

Any help would be much appreciated!

Chris O

Hey Chris,

Thank you so much for your questions.

Let’s start with the trigger points.

Shoulder Pain and Trigger Points

Just to clarify, a trigger point is a bundle of tissue in the muscle that is over active.  That part of the muscle is more active than the rest of the muscles.  This over activity part leads to tightness, sensitivity and pain.  If you have shoulder pain, this is something that you need to work on. Trigger points are key reason for shoulder and neck pain.

A key thing to remember is to start slowly with the trigger point work.  Begin by doing it 5 times and gently.  Then, see how your body responses.

See how your body feels later in the day, later that night and the next morning.

If your muscles feels better, you can do a few more, next time.

What I mean by more is 10 times.

Do not do much.

I repeat, don’t do too much.

A trigger point is not a happy thing.  If you do a little work on it, it will lighten up.  If you do too much work on it, it will flare up and make things worse.

It is a fine balance.

Now, onto the next part of the question…

Shoulder Pain and Stretching

The key to stretching for shoulder pain is a light stretching.

When I work with clients and show them what I mean by light, they tell me that they can barely feel the stretch.  That is what you want.

If you do a strong stretch, you might get a good feeling from it but a few hours later it will feel tight again because you have overstretched the muscle and your body is responding by tightening things up in order to prevent you from doing more damage.

Do a light stretch and do it more frequently.

That is it!

I hope that helps, Chris.

Looking forward to hearing about your results.

If you want to overcome your trigger points in a fast, simple, safe, and effective way, then check out the Trigger Point Solution 2.0 program here:

Rick Kaselj, MS

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