I´ve worked with my shoulders for many years and thought I´d share some of what I´ve learned, I might be able to help. I want to start off by saying that I´m in no way a medical expert. I´m just a guy that has worked with my body for years and want to share some of what I´ve learned. My english might ba a bit rusty aswell :)
Our shoulders hold so much for us, so much weight is put there and so much emotions are stuck up there. Lets have a look.
First off, let´s find them.
For a start, lets lift our shoulders up, and let them down. Easy right! My guess is that you used the front of your body to do that, do it again and see if you can feel what muscles you use to move your shoulders up and down.
Why don´t we take a closer look, I will show you a screenshot from the app Visible body. Where are the shoulders here? There really aren´t no "shoulders" where I used to think they were.
The colllarbone is pretty easy to find, lets do that real quick. Under them you might e able to find your upper, smallest rib if you press with a finger around the area.
Now stick your thumb to the side of your stomache! What you feel is probibly one of your wider ribs. So that`s a start. We´ve got the smallest and the widest ribs. No signs of shoulders yet.
At the top, our upper arms are pressed against the scapula. If you press a finger to the top of your arm you might be able to find a little whole? The upper bone is the scapula, the lower is the upper arm.
The shoulder blades and clinging on to our top ribs right where the stitches on your shirt probibly are. From there to your widest rib is downhill. So why are our shoulders so often tence and high?
If you like me spend a lot of time infront of a computer screen, you know what I`m talking about.
Aware of the downhill the chest is, lets move our shoulderblades up, and down. Different right? That´s using your back! Our shoulderblades are what´s called shoulders. Try pressing your shoulders down as much you can, your neck gets longer.. This can be emotional. Don´t forget to breathe. Do it a couple of times to get smoother. Shoulders down, long neck can feel exposing. What are we protecting with our high shoulders, let me know your thoughts in the comments! How does a tiny exercise like this makes you feel?
This was the first in a series of articles I´m thinking about. Stay tuned for part 2.
All the best!