Yesterday I marched in a parade with a concert tuba for the first time (lasting around half an hour) and now my shoulders and arms are very sore. My left shoulder is normal aside from the pain but my right shoulder seems sort of... elevated? Like it's swollen, except I don't think it has reason to be. Any ideas? I'm sure that it's mostly from an unusual amount of strain of my muscles. Being fairly small, the tuba was rather heavy. (Those assholes stuck me with the broken tuba, so I'm in pain and I didn't even get to play.) ---------- Post added 7th Dec 2015 at 01:50 AM ---------- Note: 'Those assholes' refers to the rest of the tuba section.
Are the valves on the front? If so, your body may have been over compensating for the weight you were carrying on your left shoulder, making your right shoulder come up a little. take some advil or aleve, try to stretch them out, try and do shoulder circles and warm heat. it should help.
As TraceElement said, some stretches and pain-killer should alleviate this as your muscles are probably strained a bit. You can try these yoga poses for your arms & shoulders. I've found yoga to help alleviate aches and pains considerably. If the swelling worsens or the pain does not let up for over a week, look into consulting your doctor. Best of health to you.
Valves- Um, I guess? They stick out away from my body, if that answers your question. I will definitely try the stretches and yoga. I probably just strained the muscles or something so hopefully that'll help.
Sounds like you have tendinitis from overuse. As a med student I ought you not to stretch your muscles for a few days to allow them some time to heal. After a few days you can start the stretching like others mentioned above. Also you can apply heat/cold to reduce inflammation
Yes, that's exactly what the tuba looked like... aside from lots of rust and many dents. My school's band receives very little money. Resting isn't really much of an option thanks to school and neither is a sling but I'll try my best.
I had a slightly similar pain on my shoulders after doing heavy lifting for a few days. My Doctor prescribed a topical ointment (One to apply on the affected area physically) called Myolaxin. I was instructed to apply heat where ever it hurt for a few minutes and then rub the ointment in. It worked like a charm in 3 days. My muscles didn't feel so tight and I could move my head and shoulders without getting sharp pains. The swelling took a while longer to go down, but the redness and pain went down in 3 days. I did the heat + ointment treatment 5 times a day. I dunno if that same ointment will be available in your country, but it's worth a shot.
