Uneven Shoulders: Meaning, Causes, Signs and How to Fix

Have you ever noticed that your one shoulder is lower than the other? If it is, then you have uneven shoulders. There can be a slight or significant difference in both your shoulders. This can happen due to any reason. Sometimes, it is diagnosed in childhood or early adolescence. People can also develop it due to particular habits, lifestyle factors, and or muscular, bone, or neurological conditions.

Luckily, there are ways to get your shoulders in alignment. If this term is new to you, there are many things you need to know about it. This post will help you learn uneven shoulders symptoms, causes, treatments, and more. Give this post a read to get insight into this health condition.

What Causes Uneven Shoulders?

There are several factors that can cause uneven shoulders. It can be any simple cause like-

• Carrying a heavy bag
• Always using one hand for regular activities
• Poor lifestyle

Or it can happen when you have structural issues or muscular skeleton imbalances in the body. Uneven shoulders can also be caused due to an imbalance in other body parts. For example, if your ankle or hip is hurt, it will bring your shoulder out of alignment. If you play sports such as golf, baseball, tennis, they can likely cause uneven shoulders in certain cases due to postural imbalances.

If you wonder what cause uneven shoulders, here are other reasons. 

• Poor postures
• Shoulder injuries
• Flat feet
• Uneven hips
• Sedentary lifestyle 
• Improver use of shoulders
• Incorrect sleeping position or one-side sleeping
• Weak or tight muscles
• Osteoporosis
• Pinched nerve
• Scoliosis 

These are the common causes of uneven shoulders. So, it is recommended to sleep, sit, and stand in a proper position, and do not lift heavy weights to prevent the condition. 

The next element that you need to know is the symptoms of the uneven shoulder. To treat or prevent it, you should be aware of the uneven shoulder symptoms. 

What are the Symptoms of Uneven Shoulders?

If you have uneven shoulders, you may experience the following symptoms. 

• Pain in the neck, shoulder, or lower back
• Tightness in the higher shoulder
• Headache, bursitis, and tendonitis
• Uneven waist
• One shoulder blade is more prominent than the other
• One hip may also be higher

If you are experiencing any of these uneven shoulder symptoms, contact your nearby doctor immediately before the condition gets worse. You can get it treated in two ways; either follow uneven shoulder exercise or yoga. We will discuss exercise and yoga for uneven shoulders later in this post. 

How to Treat Uneven Shoulders?

From regular therapies to exercise and yoga, there are several ways to treat uneven shoulders. If you think ‘is uneven shoulders common’ and are concerned about it, you do not need to be. Because it is common. There will be an arm that you use more than the other or one arm can be more powerful than the other which can lead to uneven shoulders. The good thing is it can be treated with some dedicated uneven shoulder exercise. Here is what you need to follow. 

Uneven Shoulder Exercise That Can Treat the Unaligned Shoulders 

Doing an exercise will stretch your body and shoulders that help to bring back your uneven shoulder into alignment. It is best if you can do them a few spurts throughout the day. 

Shoulder Raise

• Bring your arms to your sides 
• Lift your shoulders upwards towards your ears
• Hold this position to a few seconds
• Relax your posture after a few seconds
• Continue this for 30 seconds 

Ear to Shoulder Stretch 

The next uneven shoulders exercise is shoulder stretch. You can easily do it while sitting or standing. 

• Keep your neck in the straight line
• Tilt your head toward your shoulder while keeping your shoulder still
• Hold the posture for 30 seconds
• Massage opposite shoulder using your hand 
• Repeat this procedure two times on each side

Shoulder Blade Squeeze

This uneven shoulder exercise is done while standing. Follow the below-mentioned steps. 

• Bring your alongside your body
• Squeeze your shoulder blades together and down and hold the position for a few seconds
• Releases to the starting position 
• Do this 2-3 sets of 10 reps

Resistance Band Shoulder Squeeze

This exercise requires a resistance band hooked on a study surface. Once you do it, start the exercise to treat your uneven shoulders. 

• Stand in front of the hooked resistance band
• Hold both sides of the resistance band in a way that your thumbs are up, and pinkies are down 
• Brings your hand towards your body while squeezing your shoulders blades together
• Then turn your hands, so your fingers are facing down
• Squeeze your shoulder blades and pull your hands toward your hips
• Repeat three sets of 12 repetitions

Reverse Prayer Pose

If you are experiencing uneven shoulder symptoms, reverse prayer pose exercise can treat the condition in a couple of days if practiced continuously. 

• Bring your hands back and join fingertips
• Open your chest and bring your shoulders back
• Flip your hands to get your hands pointing up
• Now bring your palms together by pressing your hands and drawing your elbows back
• Remains in this posture for 30 seconds
• Repeat this a few times throughout the day

Resistance Band Arm Stretch Sequence

Uneven shoulders can be fixed with this exercise. Here is how to do this. 

• Stand straight and take the resistance band onto your hands
• Bring both arms in front of your body parallel to the floor
• Squeeze your arms together and release
• Take your arms up straight, touching your ears
• Try to create ‘T’ with your arms by stretching the band as wide as possible and getting back to the original position
• Lower the band behind your neck and hold this position for a couple of seconds
• Lift it back up again
• Do 3 sets of 12 repetition 

You probably have not noticed your uneven shoulders before this post. Are uneven shoulders common? What cause uneven shoulders? How to fix it? These questions might run into your mind. This post hopefully answered all your questions. 

Notably, your shoulders won’t get back into their actual position immediately. You probably can take a few weeks to see the improvement. Just be consistent in practicing the exercise to see the positive results. 

See a health practitioner if your conditions do not improve.