Allright I have finally found something that seems to work. I can’t tell if the underlying problem is solved but I have been pain free for over a week now. I started doing two things at the same time so I’m not sure if it’s only one or the other or both together.

1. One PT I saw said that my shoulders were too low. Contrary to what I was told to believe before, a long distance from your ear to your shoulder is not a good thing. The clavicle is supposed to be at a fairly steep angle where the outer portion is significantly higher than the inner one. If you’r clavicle is horizontal or only has a small upward angle, you are not in a good position.

So he told me to do this: stop all exercises that lower the shoulder girdle. That includes pulldowns, bench press etc. Alsto stop stretching the upper trapz. And do lots of shrugs, with the arms straight overhead.

2. I’ve begun to incorporate a neck/thoracic spine mobilization as part of my normal posture. it’s basically this: pull your chin/head back, and imagine pushing your torso forward in the opposite direction. I really like this one as it feels like my neck is better anchored to my thoracic spine.

While I don’t want to be too optimistic, this seems to be a solution. I can’t remember when I last was pain free over a week in a row.