My friend tackled a huge yard project and messed up his shoulder bad. He tried the ice packs but kept flopping onto it in his sleep. Finally borrowed a wedge pillow to stop rolling over, and did those arm circles in the morning. Said the dull ache stuck around for almost two weeks. Honestly, he should have just rested it right away.
After my dad had similar pain, his doctor said to avoid sleeping on the hurt side at all costs! He used a body pillow to keep from rolling over in his sleep. Doing light arm circles before bed also helped his range of motion a lot. It took about a week for the sharp pains to fade.