Upper back pain?


Question:
I think I have a knot in my back muscles and every so often it hurts like hell to turn my torso, arm, or neck. The pain resides somwhere on the edge of my right shoulder blade. Anyone have any suggestions on what to do about it?

Answers:
Sounds like you have a nerve irritation aggravated by tight muscles. Nerves send out a distress signal when they are irritated which causes the muscles to tighten up around that area, kinda like having swelling in a sprained ankle. But unfortunately this doesn't allow the joints to move freely and stop the nerve irritation. A more severe form of this is called torticolis, which causes the person to be in spasm and usually has his/her neck very stiff and pulling their head to one side. Some precursers to this are sleeping in an awkward position, talking on the phone using your shoulder to hold the phone, and pulling a back muscle.
The trick to get rid of the pain is to get the muscles to relax long enough so that the joints start to move freely again and allow the area to heal. Aggravating it only causes the muscles to tighten. The advice given is good, use damp heat and ice on and off, some light massage as well as some resistive stretching. Actually working the muscles involved (lightly) will get them to relax a bit. Stretch your head to the opposite shoulder and then push your head against your hand to a neutral position. Try not to do any straining in that area for a while. If it doesn't improve I would go to a chiropractor. Muscle relaxors may also help.

Other Answers:
Heat and massage for a few days, and if that doesn't work, go to the doctor or chiropractor to rule out any serious injuries.
http://www.spine-health.com/topics/cd/pain/upperback1.html
sounds something similar to what i had once. it could be a deep pull so try to just totally relax as much as possible. take anti inflammatory and some pain relief it will then take about 2 wks.
My daugher rubs mine really hard using her elbow; it hurts like hell but it seems to "break it up" a little. Hot packs and ultrasound are so awesome for this if you can afford Physical Therapy. I used to work for a Physical Therapist and got hot moist packs, ultrasound and then massage whenever my shoulders got like that from doing transcription all day, oh how I miss that.... Good Luck. It does make getting much accomplished difficulty when you have this nagging pain.
try laying back on a tennis ball roll it around after an Epsom salt bath (Luke warm works best less likely to worsen a spasm)


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