Chronic Neck and Shoulder Pain: the Causes and Natural Therapies

Neck and shoulder pain can be very annoying conditions, affecting you after an injury, a traumatic event or coming up due to stress, bad posture, and inefficient movement patterns. There are so many ways for the pain to come, but how to let it go?

Often, the body is still primarily considered just a set of mechanical pieces glued together. Once, doctors and surgeons used to see the body this way, as if no system of our organism could be linked to another. Luckily, as science evolved, we’ve come to understand that the organism is a whole. All systems work together to guarantee our homeostasis, or state of balance, and our health. 

At the same time, this is also true whenever we’re ill or facing discomfort. Stress, for example, has a peculiar way of affecting all our systems at once. You might ask, “What does this have to do with my neck pain?” And this is precisely what I’d like to cover in this article.

How does pain turn into chronic pain?

While pain can surge as a consequence of any small or big traumatic event, chronic pain requires time to develop. Let’s take the example of Emily.

Emily has been dealing with chronic shoulder pain and movement limitations in her neck for over a year. The pain and stiffness started after some months of working in a new position. Emily proudly calls herself a perfectionist, and she knows that has gotten her to places. However, this also makes her highly critical of herself and always demanding more. She deeply cares about others' opinions, but that often turns into people-pleasing and an inability to set and respect clear boundaries.

After a couple of months, the stress of proving herself competent started to take a toll on her. She repetitively found herself all tensed up, almost as if she were “frozen” in front of her computer. She could feel the negative feelings piling up, week after week, until she reached the point of being completely overwhelmed. As often happens, the weaker part of the body becomes the first one to give up to tension. Her shoulder happened to be this part.

Although she did not like her new job at all, she felt that nothing could be changed at this point. She thought that she just needed to push through a little longer, and then everything would get easier. At the same time, she felt like external circumstances were conspiring against her. She found herself working longer hours than before, yet felt like her efforts were not considered or appreciated at all. 

Eventually, the pain and tension forced Emily to leave her job. She was not really aware of the connection between the two. She just felt too bad to wake up and go to that office anymore. She started looking for something else, even though it was frightening, as she had no idea how long it would take.

Days passed, but the shoulder pain and neck tension remained. Some days, it was as if she could not move her neck at all, as if the pain went from the shoulder to the neck and froze everything. It was highly frustrating for Emily. 

A year passed by. Now and then, everything seems to improve, but then something happens, and the pain comes back even stronger. Emily describes the feeling as sharp twinges that appear whenever she performs specific movements or reaches for things above her head. However, sometimes she feels it even when that potentially stressful email lands in her mailbox. Overall, the shoulder pain has been affecting her ability to work out properly at the gym or accomplish everyday chores. To Emily, it seems like the pain is here to stay, and she often wonders whether she’ll ever be able to go back to “normal.”

Given Emily’s picture, what can’t you do but notice?

Her pain might have indeed started because of something purely mechanical. Maybe she was genuinely working extremely long shifts and was in a terrible position all day long. But despite leaving her job and stopping the activity altogether, the pain stayed. Can you guess why?

Chronic pain is not just mechanical

Stress is the missing link. Emily went through a very stressful period, facing not only mechanical challenges but probably even more emotional ones. During those months at work, she indeed maintained bad posture, but the demanding environment took a toll on her body, and the strain imposed on her body also affected her mind. 

When pain surged, Emily was probably in a tight spot. Tension was accumulating in her body as she struggled to find a way to quit her job and be hired somewhere else. Her mind was all about “I’m not valued here,” but she was also afraid that “I might not feel much different elsewhere.” So, she stayed way too long, feeling trapped. She then prolonged these bad feelings by leaving without having any ideas about what to do next.

Why does all of this matter?

Even if the pain might have started because of mechanical issues, it turned into chronic pain because of stress and powerful emotional components. When the body is under stress, all systems are affected, including the nervous system. The brain becomes highly alert, and all secondary functions are shut down. 

Our minds are very good at focusing on all the little signs that something is wrong. However, by allowing ourselves to focus on the negatives, we more easily lose the ability to notice what might be going right, see options, and see the bigger picture.

This can quickly turn into a vicious cycle or a pain loop. You notice the pain, become more alert, stress increases, inflammation follows, and the neural patterns associated with that pain keep being reinforced. It’s not like the pain isn’t real, but much rather about the fact that it cannot entirely go away unless you allow it to. 

The role of bad habits and posture

Whenever I see a client in my studio with neck or shoulder pain, I chat with them to learn about their story and overall health status. It is essential for me to know what happened physically, such as past injuries or traumas, and what has been going on in their lives.

Do not worry; it’s always a very casual chat. Once you are in my studio, you can share with me whatever you feel might be significant (confidentiality is, of course, essential to our work). Often, going through stressful events, experiencing strong emotions, or even feeling stuck in the past because of some childhood traumas can all be components that still affect the body today. That’s why all of it matters.

If we go back to Emily’s case, we can see all the patterns very well. Emily might have strained her shoulder at work, but perhaps she had bad posture habits even before she started that job. Her bad habits might have included keeping her shoulders always tensed or having her back always curved more than normal. Nonetheless, stress, current or accumulated over the years of her life, is what has played the biggest role in turning her pain into chronic pain and, ultimately, got her brain stuck in unhealthy patterns. 

So, how can Feldenkrais practice help in cases like Emily’s?

Feldenkrais for neck and shoulder pain

One thing I loved about the Feldenkrais Method since the first class I took was the holistic approach to health. Feldenkrais moves beyond a mechanical view of the body, acknowledging the vital connection between the body and the mind. Interestingly, many people with different symptoms can come to the same class and experience benefits because Feldenkrais classes are about helping individuals find new movement patterns that feel natural and efficient. In other words, everyone will take home what they need from each class (I’m talking about group classes or Awareness Through Movement.)

Feldenkrais individual sessions (FI), on the other hand, can be invaluable if you’re dealing with chronic pain, neck pain, and shoulder pain and would like a more personalised approach. In fact, sometimes pain also persists due to the area becoming the compensation point for other dysfunctions. In the case of Emily, her shoulder pain could have been caused by other areas of her body being misaligned, such as her neck or her back. With Feldenkrais practice, both group and individual work, you can learn how to move gently, lower stress, and bring your awareness back to what feels good in your body. 

Often, calming the nervous system and allowing the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) to turn on is enough to witness an incredible shift in the body. The PNS, in fact, is a system entirely dedicated to the so-called rest and digest functions. It’s the one that suddenly shuts down in stressful situations to allow the body to prioritise other functions considered more important for survival. However, when we help the PNS turn back on during breathwork, meditation, relaxation, or Feldenkrais practice, it is able to slow down heart rate, reduce blood pressure, and stimulate healthy digestion and other healing and restorative functions in the body. Essentially, the PNS is one of your biggest allies for healing, decreasing stress, reducing inflammation, and putting out the fire of chronic pain.

Mobility, flexibility and comfort: what to expect from a Feldenkrais practice

Neck pain is not just about not being able to move your head. It can prevent you from working, accomplishing mundane tasks, relaxing, or even sleeping comfortably. Similarly, shoulder pain might not only call for your attention during a workout. It can become increasingly frustrating when it prevents you from eating normally, dressing up, or even doing your hair. 

While Awareness Through Movement (ATM) classes are great if you’re dealing with general physical discomforts, reduced mobility, lack of flexibility, and an overall feeling of numbness or disconnection from your body, Functional Integration (FI) work is preferable for specific concerns.

FI sessions are one-on-one Feldenkrais classes. It’s just you and me, so we can focus on specific issues and address them directly. I use my hands to move your body gently, and you can give me feedback in real time. The goal is always to find new ways you can move that are more efficient and less painful for you:

• this might be while sitting or working at a desk

• it might be while performing everyday tasks without ever forcing the movement

• it might be while lifting or reaching for something, enhancing your mobility without running into tension and pain

• and might simply be about staying still, lying down or relaxing, understanding what can actually help your body to relax and let go of unnecessary tension

Individual sessions are very powerful for realigning the whole body's structure, resetting the nervous system, and restoring it to a state of calm and harmony. In other words, FI sessions can be the easiest way to nourish feelings of comfort and safety, which are keys to ending the pain cycle.

Of course, in individual sessions, we use every available tool and technique to speed up healing. When working with chronic pain cases, I often combine Feldenkrais with other somatic techniques, including Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) and Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy (EAET). These techniques can help the brain reframe the pain experience and support the release of hidden emotions feeding the stressful response.

The case of Emily is the perfect example of when a mix of techniques would produce the best results. The Feldenkrais Method would help her recognise unhelpful movement patterns, decrease stress levels, enhance her mind-body awareness, and reset her nervous system. PRT would help her change the way she thinks about pain, allowing her brain to change the neural patterns that might have kept her stuck in the pain loop. Finally, EAET might be great for allowing her to digest the stressful and negative experiences she went through, both at work and perhaps outside of it. 

Overall, it is really rare to find a case where the solution is purely about the mind or the body. Often, a mix of techniques is the most efficient path to healing. We’re very complex organisms, but this is precisely what makes us unique and fascinating.

If you wish to have a chat, discuss any specific health concerns with me, or delve into the ways in which I could support you on your healing journey, feel free to drop me a message at iryna@mindfulbody.lu.