Shoulders get injured a lot and I have noticed a big problem! The most common treatments for functional shoulder pain involve some anti-inflammatory treatment and moving on to shoulder strength or rotator cuff exercises. There is a massive piece missing and can explain why shoulder pain on many can be an ongoing problem, for a long period of time.
We often get patients come in who have had shoulder issues for years and they show us their shoulder exercises and have been told to do them ongoingly. When we ask them what else have they been told to do, many tell us that they have their exercises and stretches and do them whenever it gets sore.

Before we look at strengthening shoulder joint muscles we have to understand that reasons why they aren’t functioning isn’t always the same. That is that they are weak and need to be strengthened. Think about professional athletes. They train all the time and their shoulder muscles have plenty of tone and are very strong. How come they get shoulder pain with such strong muscles and normal “non-athletes” don’t? If we aren’t as strong as them, shouldn’t we also get shoulder pain worse then theirs? There has to be more to it than just strength in many people.
What we find often needs to be done first, is to get proper function from the shoulder girdle muscles. Make sure they are working as they are supposed to. The trick to this is to actually get it assessed properly. The muscles may not be function due to many reasons. There could be an imbalance in your jaw/ neck / lower back or just simple strains through scapular (shoulder blade) stabilisers. Basically, you first need to make sure it works properly. It’s kind of like putting in a huge V8 engine into a car but never put in the petrol to make it run.
So, if your finding that your shoulder isn’t improving, and you have been strengthening it for a long time, best have it rechecked. You may be stuck doing this for a long time and never actually getting to the bottom of it!