As best as I can figure out, treating the symptoms is one can of worms, and treating the cause is a whole different one. I tend to look at all these spasm type episodes as symptoms more than root issues in themselves.
You hit it right on the head weaselcracker! I wasn’t planning on elaborating more, so if you want me to cut it out Stank, just say the word and I will zip it! But this is exactly the case. The muscles crying out in pain are the victims, being pulled on, stretched beyond capacity for long periods of time and then strained. Shoulder blades are a problem child for so many people because they are held in place by muscles, and not truly connected to other main bones of the body. It is also a very mobile, as needed for movement. Because of this, it is very easy for one shortened muscle to pull it to one direction and cause muscles in its opposing sides to be stretched and thus overworked.
Often what is painful are the overstretched muscles, people rub them and it gets relief, but the pain will come back again because the muscle that is shortened has not been addressed yet.
So here’s the answer - stretch what is shortened and strengthen what is long. Hopefully that makes sense.
Here’s an example, one I deal with personally:
If the muscle near the bottom of the scapula (shoulder blade) is shortened (shown in red) it will rotate the entire scapula in a counter-clockwise direction. The areas circled in green is where you will feel the most pain, because that area is now being stretched and overworked in that stretched position. People will massage that area because that’s where it hurts, and while that is helpful to reduce pain, the real issue that still needs to be addressed is that shortened muscle in red. Until that gets attention, the cycle will repeat itself.
This is one example of the
many directions the scapula can be pulled, and cause pain. Yoga is a solid approach because it stretches
and strengthens because of the slow, holding of each position. It is also good because it can be modified for things like sore wrists, bad knee, etc.
I’ll go ahead and stop myself here, because I will talk about this stuff all day if anyone lets me. Lol. I hope that helps and I’m happy to answer any questions here, or in my thread too!