Protecting your shoulders when working overhead
Nicola Tik
Working with your arms up above your head is deceptively tiring. Wiring, plastering, painting a ceiling, whatever it is, your shoulders hold your arms aloft the whole time, and that deep ache around the shoulder and top of the arm is them telling you they have been on duty too long. You cannot always avoid the work, but you can change how hard your shoulders have to work at it.
The single biggest factor is how long your arms stay above shoulder height in one go. The muscles that hold your arm up tire quickly and recover slowly, so long unbroken spells overhead are what wear them down. Breaking the task into shorter bursts, with your arms coming down in between, lets them recover before they are exhausted. Even dropping your arms for thirty seconds every few minutes makes a real difference to how they feel by the end.
The further away the work is, the more your shoulder has to strain to reach it and hold steady. Standing on a step, platform or podium to bring the job closer to chest or head height, rather than stretching up from the floor, takes a huge amount of load off the shoulder. It is worth the minute it takes to set up. Working right up under the job, rather than reaching across to it, keeps your arm in a stronger, less strained position too.
Holding even a light tool overhead becomes heavy fast when your arm is already working to stay up. Choosing lighter tools where you can, and supporting the weight on something rather than holding it aloft, spares the shoulder a lot. For jobs you do often, it is worth asking whether a support, a prop or a longer-handled tool could take the weight instead of your arm. The less your shoulder has to hold up, the longer it lasts.
If you can mix overhead work with jobs at waist or bench height, rather than doing all the overhead work in one long block, your shoulders get natural recovery built into the day. Swapping between tasks, or alternating which arm leads where the job allows, spreads the effort around. Planning the day so the overhead work is not all stacked together is a simple way to stop the shoulders reaching the point of being cooked.
If your shoulders ache after a spell overhead, gentle movement usually helps them settle more than stiffening up. Easy shoulder rolls, letting the arms hang and swing loosely, or a little warmth across the shoulders often takes the edge off. Going easy on other heavy overhead tasks that evening gives them a chance to recover. What helps varies from person to person, so it is worth finding what works for yours.
If you would like to try a guided shoulder stretch, VIDA has a short video you can follow at your own pace.