Why is my shoulder stiff reaching overhead?

Frances Brown • November 28, 2021

Question: why does my shoulder always feel stiff when I try to lift my arms all the way up overhead? I have been told it is because I have tight lats (muscle under shoulders) and that I need to stretch or foam roll more. 

Answer: 

Firstly, we must look at what is muscle tightness? My understanding is that muscle tension is a feeling that’s controlled by the nervous system. So, if your body feels it needs to protect something, an increase in tension in the muscles surrounding a joint may be part of this.


Massage, needling, foam rolling etc can temporarily tell the nervous system to “relax”. But this is temporary only. If we know the tightness sensation is protective, then let’s consider why! 

To answer this specifically for the shoulder, we should first consider the anatomy of the shoulder joint. 


The shoulder is a ball and socket joint. The socket is called the Glenoid fossa and it is not really a socket at all it’s quite flat , though it is made deeper by the labrum, a thick cartilage layer that creates more of a socket shape. This socket is located on the shoulder blade (scapula).  


The shoulder joint on its own isn’t super stable. It needs ligaments, muscles, the labrum, and a soft tissue capsule (think glad wrap or cling wrap around the joint) to make it so. When you try to reach upwards, your scapula needs to rotate upwards too, as the ball is sitting on it. To remain stable, the ball needs to be centred right in the middle of the socket. This requires the muscles controlling the ball on the socket (rotator cuff muscles) to do their job, as well as the muscles around the socket (scapula muscles) to keep the socket sitting underneath the ball.  


If the ball isn’t sitting securely in its socket, the muscles all around it may work extra hard to try to make sure it is stable. This may be the muscles around the ball and socket joint trying to hold it in place OR it may be that the socket on the scapula moves to try to stay under the ball, which can make all the muscles around the shoulder blade feel used or tired or “tight”.  


If we stretch or foam roll or dry needle the tight muscles, though it may feel immediately looser and better to reach, it is unlikely to last as this is not addressing the root cause of the problem. 

So how do we do that? 


Generally, building stability in all directions the shoulder moves in, through full range, should help. You can try really REACHING to facilitate upward rotation of the shoulder blade, which may help.


 In particular, if reaching overhead feels stiff and difficult, overhead press (OHP) may be a good option.


  1. OHP forces the scapula into upward rotation and the socket is then facing upwards, so the muscles around it don’t need to work as hard to control on a sloping downwards surface, which maybe helps the sensation of tightness to ease. 
  2. OHP does not cause as much direct pressure on the font of the shoulder, but allows the muscles around it to work hard which may give the feeling of stability, again allowing the muscle tension to ease.
  3. OHP puts the lats in a lengthened position so naturally may feel like it’s “loosening” them. 


Some other ones I like are long lever shoulder side elevation (abduction) and forward elevation (flexion). The long lever (having the arm extended so the load is far away from the joint) challenges stability. Focusing on really REACHING can help facilitate the muscles around the scapula to lift and elevate the shoulder blade as necessary to get your arm all the way up.  


Note: this is not intended in place of medical advice. Seek a professional opinion for your personal problem as everyone is different. 


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