Here are a bunch of suggestions for you.............
I'm not giving medical advice to you, because I'm not a doctor, I am just sharing my personal experiences and things I've come across and tried along the way that helped me feel better. For anyone that didn't already know this, I broke my neck about five years ago and tried conservative medical treatment (drugs, physical therapy, etc.) before finally having surgery to fuse two levels in my neck with donor bone and titanium hardware. I felt better, but still had problems with neck and back pain and muscle knots and ultimately what worked best for me was finally finding a great chiropractor that did a combination of massage, electric muscle stimulation, adjustments and accupuncture. I saw him a couple of times a week for a year and all of the problems I was having were absolutely gone and I've felt great and haven't had to go see him for almost two years. Unfortunately, a couple of nights ago I was really tired and slept in a weird position with no pillow and woke up with a very painful and stiff neck and shoulder that has not gotten better and I am probably going to see the chiro tomorrow if he can fit me in his schedule.
Here are a few home remedy suggestions that I picked up along the way when I was really having trouble and I did them in addition to seeing the chiropractor. Try a few and maybe one of them will make you feel better.
Google it and you will find out that tennis balls are very popular and are cheap to get rid of muscle knots and tension. You put one or two tennis balls in a long sock and then either hang them to the bottom of the sock while you center the balls against a wall and move around until you know you are hitting the knot and lean against the wall and put pressure on the knot and roll around on the tennis balls or if you can handle it, lay on the floor and do the same thing. Lay on the tennis balls and roll them around targeting the muscle knot to work it out.
Also, alternate ice and heat on the muscle spasm or knot, 10 minutes each time. For ice, frozen peas or corn work great if you don't have the ice packs that stay soft and for a home-made heat pack get a hand-towel wet, fold it in 4s and put in a plastic bag, fold the bag over and microwave it for a couple minutes. Take it out of the microwave (with a dry towel to protect your hand), and lay it on a dry bath towel, fold this over and apply this to the area you iced. Alternate ice and heat several times always starting with ice, and ending with ice. Then, lay down FLAT, and take a little 'power nap' (20 minutes or so). You will feel MUCH better all over.
Another stretching/yoga type exercise.....Lie flat on the floor. Raise your butt off the floor and arch your back to where your weight is on your shoulders. Slowly move back and forth and up and down and you will probably hear your back popping, Just putting things back in place. Get really courageous and do this ON the tennis balls.
if the knot is behind your shoulder blade, the problem is probably stemming from your subscapularis..this muscle is difficult to palpate or loosen because it lies underneath your shoulder blade. People that spend a lot of time working at a desk or on a a computer tend to have problems with that area.
You can loosen it yourself by leaning the upper part of your body (waist up) forward with your arm hanging down and shoulder relaxed (do this on a high bed or table). This will make your shoulder blade move forward, and expose the muscle. have someone massage it at that time...if they feel any knots, no matter how big or small, have them apply pressure on the knot for about 12 seconds, enough pressure that it hurts, but not so much pressure that you can't take the pain (on a pain scale of 1-10...I recommend a 6 or 7). The good ole tennis ball comes in handy for this one. Do this a few times a week, and the pain should go away...of course, you need to be aware of your posture at all times, because if you don't fix that, the pain is never going to go away.
Go to Wal Mart and get one of those large inflatable exercise balls. THey have plain ones and have balls with nubs sticking out and it is great to lean back and roll back and forth on it, great way to relax the muscles.
I'm told it helps this sort of problem to take a couple Valarian Root capsules, though I haven't tried that one.
Another variation of the alternating heat and cold treatment. If you have a shower nozzle, run the water across your shoulders or the wherever the tight muscles are, turning up the hot water slowly until it's very hot,( don't scald your skin) until the heat doesn't bother you. Slowly turn the hot down to cold until the cold doesn't bother you. Do this seven times,Hot to cold to hot and so on. If you try this you won't believe the results.
A acupressure/massage trick....if the knots/tension are in the trapezius muscles (the muscles leading from the top of the shoulders to both sides of he neck), grasp the meaty part of the muscle firmly between the palm of your hand and the flat surfaces of your fingers. Hold that grip for about a minute, then slowly release. Repeat on the other side. This is an acupressure movement that is VERY effective for tension/knots in that particular muscle group.
FYI.........If you can talk someone into giving you a massage of the area at home, use massage oil generously and use your thumb to knead the knot it top to bottom, following the natural curves of the shoulder, do not kead it from the bottom up, it will just make it feel worse later.
My chiropractor gave me packets of something called "BioFreeze" which is sort of like Ben-Gay or Icy Hot and it felt good to use, but I don't know if you can buy that or you have to get it from a doctor.
My regular doctor said a lot of muscle aches, pains and muscle knots are caused by dehydration and hardly anyone drinks enough water. Try making an effort to drink a lot of water.....8-10 eight ounce glasses are recommended and one bottled water would be equivalent to two glasses of water so try for finishing at least five bottles of water a day. Gatorade or Powerade would help replenish fluids too and I buy powdered Gatorade that can be mixed with bottled water and it is a lot cheaper than just buying Gatorade. Eating Bananas is good for potassium which if your body is low on will cause muscle cramps.
Soaking in a hot bath that has epsom salts should be relaxing and might help.
If you don't want to take prescription painkillers, for a couple of days you can alternate Ibuprofene and Tylenol every two hours (you don't have to wait four hours since they are different types of meds)
If this is a chronic thing you may want to learn a little bit of Tai Chi. It will promote balance, strength, relaxation, movement and general control.
Hope I was helpful. Good Luck.
OH......and I can relate to THIS..........
P.S. I do have a wonderful hubby, but when I would ask him to rub my shoulder, he would take 1 or 2 fingers and rub around for a minute or two and say, ok, is that better? I'd say yes, didn't want to hurt his feelings, but it actually wasn't, so I'd go get the tennis ball
I can do better than that, before I met my husband he took a massage therapist course and tells everyone he did it to meet women, but I've known him for twenty years and have gotten just one quickie massage from him and it was right after I'd met him. The best I can get now (and this too has been years) is the same 1 or 2 finger two minute rub.
