Stiff shoulder muscles that always want to stick together

November 12, 2011 8:42 PM

When I shrug my shoulders or stretch my arms above my head after not moving around for a while I can feel/hear the muscles kind of schlicking apart as though the different muscles were kind of sticking together (no pain). This doesn't happen with any other muscles though. Anyone else get this?

I suspect this is something to do with the fascia that sheath the muscles to allow them to glide over each other. Is this myofascial adhesion? At any rate I am trying to solve some shoulder muscle issues and I'm wondering if this has anything to do with it.
I have had massages but not myofascial release per se.

posted by dino terror to Health & Fitness (2 answers total)

The shoulder has a lot of muscles involved and imbalances can pull it a little bit out of alignment. I'd say myofascial trigger point therapy not myofascial release as it doesn't seem to make sense to move the fascia around without taking care of trigger points...but who knows it might help.
posted by Not Supplied at 8:59 PM on November 12, 2011 [1 favorite]

Shoulder joint clicking is extremely common, and (as is the case with all joints) it's generally nothing to worry about unless accompanied by pain. Considering that the shoulder is the most complex and muscular joint in the body, there's bound to be some level of noise resulting from its action, but I've never heard of any dysfunction being diagnosed by the sound it makes. Thus whatever you're hearing going on around the joint won't really provide much insight compared to basic tests of the joint's ROM and multiplanar strength.
posted by Kandarp Von Bontee at 9:42 PM on November 13, 2011