General Shoulder Pain? Here's the plan.
Here is an example of what I would have a client do for acute shoulder pain (general).
Calm Down. Remind yourself that your body is strong & resilient. It may even help to say it out loud a few times: "My body is strong. I will be okay."
Breathe. Slow/intentional breathing is a great way to calm the body down. This will also help to mobilize the rib cage, which plays a big roll on shoulder mobility/function.
Use this Quadruped Breathing technique for 1-2 Minutes to get started.
Mobilize. Using light soft tissue mobilization can help to calm down the area, and make things feel just a bit better so that you can move through some corrective exercises.
60sec per side, Lat Release
60sec per side, Pec Release
10-15/side, Side-lying Thoracic Rotations
Activate. Now, let's get some of the core, spine and hip musculature activated. This will help to further relax those tense/spasmed muscles.
2-3 Rounds of the Following
30 sec, Front Lean Rest (or 15 Quadruped Lift Offs)
15 Band Pull Aparts (or Prone T Lift-offs)
30 sec. Feet Assisted Hang (or Farmer Carry)
5 Bench Reverse Shrugs (5 sec. hold at top)
Integrate. At this point, based on how much relief has occurred, we will want to get moving. The goal here is to re-integrate that quality muscle activation and coordination into a few movement patterns. What you decide to do depends on how much relief is felt.
Minimal Relief - Consider going for a 10 to 30 minute walk.
Moderate Relief - Consider doing additional core/upper body isometrics, or hitting some lower body strengthening in tolerable positions.
Lots of Relief - Consider continue with scheduled worked, but decreasing intensity by reducing weight, reps, increasing rest times or modifying movements.
Dominate. Continue to stay moving by finding what feels good and dominating it. Plan on taking a slow progressive return back to 100%. Stay the course for long enough and you'll be back to dominating your "normal" workouts, recreation and life activities in no time.
