Thread: Upper back muscle pain - any advice?

Hi

I woke up last Friday (or rather many times thursday night) with a lot of pain in a muscle in my left shoulder/upper back. Friday was pretty uncomfortable but it has since calmed but the pain is still there which is unusual for me. It doesn’t hurt to squeeze my shoulder blades together or to push them apart more i feel it when i expand my ribcage. The pain is a vertical band of pain under and parallel to the edge of my shoulder blade.

What have I done?

Will it sort itself?

Is there anything I should do?

I have avoided back and arm stuff at the gym (CV stuff involving my legs only) but I did have to scrub a floor at work yesterday which didn't help :-s. Avoiding using my arms/shoulders at all has severely limited the exercise I can do so I don’t want this to go on too long!

I don't want it to turn into one of those things that will now never go away, but at the same time I don't want to be one of those whingers who always has some little niggle as a bad excuse to avoid exercise!!

Any suggestions from the fitness/body experts?

Thanks

Zaf

well, next time I start to post, tell me to read what I'm replying to carefully since I've developed the bad habit of misreading. So, it is parallel to the inner edge of your scapula? Sorry, I misread to the lower edge, leading to think more of rib issues, lung issues. Pinched nerves can cause muscles to spasm there, or just a pulled muscle of some sort. Massage may help. I have this sometimes and put a couple tennis balls into a sock, put it on the floor and lie on it, with the balls being between my shoulder blades and my spine. Sort of self massaging. Or I use rolled up socks if the dog has slobbered all the tennis balls.

If it is along the bottom of the shoulderblade, following ribs, could be pleurisy, walking pneumonia (both of which I've had) or shingles.

Find a massage therapist trained in trigger point therapy -- preferably an experienced one who's been at it for a while. I've had similar pain -- and other types of pain -- completely resolved in just one visit with my trigger point massage therapist, and it's no more expensive than a regular massage.

Until you can get help, try heat (heating pad, hot water bottle, whatever you've got) or ice, whichever feels more appropriate to you, and maybe Bio-Freeze to numb the pain.

Here's a stretch that may help a little in the meantime:
Yoga Journal - Eagle Pose

Just the arms, hold and breath deeply into the upper back. Experiment with raising or lowering the elbows a little, see if you you can get the stretch where you need it.

If you can get a friend to rub your back, try putting your forearm across your lower back so the shoulderblade 'wings' out and have your friend apply some oil and slooowly run his/her fingers or thumb along/under the ridge of your shoulderblade.

(I'm assuming the pain is in the muscle along the inner edge of the shoulderblade, toward the spine?)

OF course, if Jaziri is right and it's lung-related, then none of my suggestions will help you.

Originally Posted by Lauren_

Find a massage therapist trained in trigger point therapy -- preferably an experienced one who's been at it for a while. I've had similar pain -- and other types of pain -- completely resolved in just one visit with my trigger point massage therapist, and it's no more expensive than a regular massage.

Until you can get help, try heat (heating pad, hot water bottle, whatever you've got) or ice, whichever feels more appropriate to you, and maybe Bio-Freeze to numb the pain.

Here's a stretch that may help a little in the meantime:
Yoga Journal - Eagle Pose

Just the arms, hold and breath deeply into the upper back. Experiment with raising or lowering the elbows a little, see if you you can get the stretch where you need it.

If you can get a friend to rub your back, try putting your forearm across your lower back so the shoulderblade 'wings' out and have your friend apply some oil and slooowly run his/her fingers or thumb along/under the ridge of your shoulderblade.

(I'm assuming the pain is in the muscle along the inner edge of the shoulderblade, toward the spine?)

OF course, if Jaziri is right and it's lung-related, then none of my suggestions will help you.

I can always figure out the worst thing, though I didn't mention heart attacks! Sorry about that, too many yrs working as a nurse, though my young adult son tells me I always say, to him, "put a bandaid on it".

Yes, get someone to massage you, but get checked out if it doesn't help. If it's between your shoulder blades massage would be a good idea most likely.

Originally Posted by Lauren_

Here's a stretch that may help a little in the meantime:
Yoga Journal - Eagle Pose

I don't know if you have helped Zafirah, but I think you've helped me with this pose. I often suffer from a pinched nerve (I think... it's my own diagnosis) in my upper back/shoulder blade area. It happens mostly when I sleep with my arm up under my pillow/head. It usually goes away within a few days if I can keep my arms down when I sleep. It's not easy for me though because I'm most comfortable laying on my side.

Originally Posted by gwyncara

I don't know if you have helped Zafirah, but I think you've helped me with this pose. I often suffer from a pinched nerve (I think... it's my own diagnosis) in my upper back/shoulder blade area. It happens mostly when I sleep with my arm up under my pillow/head. It usually goes away within a few days if I can keep my arms down when I sleep. It's not easy for me though because I'm most comfortable laying on my side.

Oh, good! It's one of my favorite stretches, most people have some kind of upper back tension or pain.

I advise my students not to overuse this pose. Many people have upper back pain because of rounded shoulders/head-forward posture that actually over-lengthens the upper back muscles. So a stretch is pain relieving in the short term, but most of my students need to stretch their *chest* and tighten their upper back muscles on a daily basis.

I know what you mean about sleeping with the arm overhead -- ever since I hurt my rotator cuff, some nights I wake up like that and can barely move my arm at all.

Thanks

Jaziri - Don't worry I f0rgot to add the key infomation that this happened shortyl after a session at the gym - I'm pretty sure it is a muscle thing not a lung thing!

Lauren, thanks that stretch actually helped a little bit straight away. I wasn't finding a good way of stretching the exact muscle other than trying to expand my ribcage as far as humanly possible. That stretch is much more sensible and effective!!!

I was only worried becuase usually i get over muscles aches pains and pulls in a few days and now this is nearly a week.

Is it best to completely rest it or try and work it gently?

Thanks

Z