Massage

I haven't done physical therapy in a long time but my mom always makes sure I'm paying attention to my shoulder and doing something to keep it stretched and strong. Like I've said, yoga is one thing I do a lot to help open up my shoulder and build its strength. There are also certain stretches I try to do often that help. It's important to be aware of what I'm doing with my shoulder because brachial plexus injuries often cause pain or problems when you're older and that is one thing I'm sure I don't want. As unmotivated as I am most of the time to do anything for my shoulder, I know I have to. I've become accustomed to my shoulder how it is but if ignoring it means issues when I'm older, I'm willing to give it a little extra attention every now and then to avoid that.

The main action I take for my shoulder is massage. It's not just any ordinary sort of massage and it's not for everyone but I just want to share my experience with it. A while back my mom found a lady who did shiatsu massage and I did that for a while. I don't know a lot about it but I knew that I felt great afterwards and she was very confident in the progress I was making. She ended up moving away and my mom couldn't find anyone else similar so we kind of forgot about it for a while.

Eventually, a long-time friend of my family's who is a masseuse offered to help me. He did a lot of research on brachial plexus injuries and he knows an extensive amount about the body so even before my first massage, he knew what he was looking for and what he was going to try and do to improve my shoulder's comfort. Once again, I found that the massages felt great and my shoulder seemed looser after. He's been giving me massages for a few years now and he's done a lot for my shoulder. He's also given me stretches to do and suggestions for activities that could further improve my shoulder's condition.

Overall, massage has made my shoulder feel better and has also made me more conscious of how I am treating it. I'm confident that my shoulder would be in a much worse state without it and I would be much less aware of how it is doing. He always explains to me what he's doing and what's going on with my shoulder. It's given me a greater understanding of my arm's abilities, limitations, and improvements. Even if it's not massage, I believe it's really important that people are very conscious of their brachial plexus injuries so that they can prevent future (as well as current) discomfort.