Clicky clanky achy shoulder

[Physiologicalmalfunction]

I have loads of irritating ailments and I'm going to try and sort them one at a time. None of them seem quite bad enough to bother the doctor.

So here's the first:

My shoulder clicks, creaks and clanks even doing the most simple things like folding washing, washing up. Why? What can I do to mend it? It's been doing it for about a year and seems to be very gradually getting worse and there is slight pain and dull ache attached to the creaking. I must admit I did a silly thing a couple of years ago and challenged a much younger, stronger person to an arm wrestle and I did something to it then, it's never been the same since but it's definitely getting worse.

Can anyone out there offer any home remedies or exercises I can try?

(Background, I am 48, on HRT for 1 year, have ulcerative colitis and therefore am a little prone to achy joints anyway - but this is different)

I’m prone to frozen shoulder since menopause. I do shoulder mobility exercises every day and they really help keep my range of movement. I saw a physio (privately but only one appointment at £45) who gave me the exercises I do.

Thanks Elbows. I guess I'd better see if I can find a recommended local physio then to give me some bespoke advice. In the meantime, are your exercises mainly involving moving and stretching your shoulder? I keep trying to do various things to stretch out my shoulder blades to try and relieve it but I wasn't sure if I was making it worse. I can't even put shopping from my trolley onto the conveyer at the moment - looked like a right nob doing everything with my left hand/arm today

Ouch. You have my sympathy. Yes, mainly stretching. I do “thread the needle”, snow angels and sleeper stretch but when it was really bad I used a broomstick to help drive my arm up (I couldn’t lift it). The idea is to keep it moving and stretch to slight discomfort but not pain.

Thank you so much for recommending those stretches. I've googled the first two and found videos so I'll definitely be trying those when I get a quiet 10 minutes. So sorry to hear you've suffered so much with your shoulder. I'll let you know how I get on!