Shoulder Pain !

Bones

Anthon, I know what you mean about the US 'health care' system. What a joke. The only industrialized country in the world without universal health care plus we spend twice as much as France per capita ( France has the #1 health care system based on most metrics) and we are at the bottom of the list relative to quality of care.

I'm not a doctor but I also have the slouching thing which is why that stretch pulling the arms back opens up my rotators. For me the combo of working at a computer all day and playing guitar in the evening plus surfing for exercise, everything is about scrunching my shoulders forward. I have to stretch my arms back.

Another way to do it is to stand with a table behind you, reach back and lay your palms on the table top then slowly bend your knees. That stretches your arms back and up just the same but I prefer to do it sitting on the ground and just sliding my hands backwards behind me with my palms on the floor and my arms straight.

Go easy on it. Don't do anything that hurts. It should feel good. If not, stop.

If it feels good, only go back until you feel a light stretch happening and hold that for 15-20 seconds then slowly come back up. I usually repeat this 2 or 3 times a day to keep my shoulders open and takes the pressure off of the pinched nerves in the rotator cuff.

I'll try to find a picture of the stretch on the web and post a link.

Ok, I sort of found something like it on the web. It's basically the "anterior shoulder stretch" that they show at the bottom of this link. I just do it sitting on the floor because it's easier for me to get more stretch that way but maybe you should just start doing it the way that they show it here so that you don't put too much force on your joints.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt ... CBoQ9QEwBA

I'll try to find more info. There are other anterior stretches and also strengthening execises that help me. I basically have some bone spurs in the rotator that impinge on the nerves if I slouch too much. Fortunately, not bad enough to need surgery so I can manage it with good posture and stretching/strengthening.

Perltone

Try to keep your right shoulder in alignment. A PT once explained to me that hunching your shoulder forward over the guitar puts it in a weakened position. That has helped me.