Thursday 10 October 2013

Pain In Back Between Shoulder Blades

Pain In Back Between Shoulder Blades

Pain In Back between Shoulder Blades
How many times have you left work with a headache, stiffness between your shoulder blades, or tightness in your shoulders?

 Did you take a pain reliever when you arrived at home?

Have you purchased a back brace hoping to correct the problem? 

It is a major problem around the country. What does texting, emailing, typing on a computer, and writing at a desk have in common? Hunched over to do all these tasks!

By leaning over, you shorten your chest muscles, round your back, and lower your head and that cause the pain in back between  shoulder blades.

 Starting at the base of your head, running on each side of your spin to the pelvis are two muscles called Erector Spinae. These muscles stabilize your spine and hold your head up. Your head weighs about 10-12 pounds. 

When you are leaning over the weight of your head doubles every inch your head leans forward. This puts major stress on your mid back. The chest is not helping either., because as it shortens it cause your shoulders to round and intensifies the pain. So what can you do?

Some have purchased back braces to pull your shoulders back and take the pressure off. That seems reasonable at first until you watch someone wearing one. The brace forces the chest to expand. This is not good for a long period of time, because the chest muscles will react by contracting and causing a spasm in your chest.

 You might think you are having a heart attack, but you are not. You will still have the mid back pain because you will continue to lean your head forward.

Strength training sounds like a great idea. If I can strengthen my back muscles, then I can expand my chest to stop the rounding of my shoulders. The back muscles will spasm causing pain in your lower back because you cannot hold that position that long.

Here is the best way to handle mid back pain. First, understand your spine is like a slinky. There is nothing in your spine that is rigid like a leg bone. It is just a series of bones stacked on top of each other, held together by ligaments.

 Ligaments are like taffy, once they are stretched out, the ligaments will not return to their original size. The only thing that holds your spine straight are your muscles. Second, the best way to stop the mid back pain is to reverse the shortness of your chest.

 This can be done by standing in a doorway. Place one forearm on the door frame so the wrist and the elbow are touching the door frame. The upper arm should be parallel to the floor. Look down at your feet and pretend you draw a circle around your feet.

 Now using your feet, rotate your body away from the door frame as far as you can. Hold the stretch for two seconds and repeat ten times. When you are finished, shift your arm so your hand is on the back of your head, your elbow is on the door frame, and rotate your body exactly the same as you did in the first stretch. Hold for two seconds and repeat ten times.

There are two muscles in each side of your chest. Both of these stretches will expand those muscles. Thirdly, While sitting in a chair, shoulders back, place your hands on the bottom of your chin, and look up to the ceiling. Hold for two seconds and repeat ten times.

If you work at a desk all day you should do these stretches in the morning, mid-day, and in the evening before you go to bed. Doing these stretches will allow you to stop the Pain In Back Between  shoulder blades.

 If you are working out and focusing on your mid back, these stretches will allow you to improve your back strength without creating more pain in your mid back and neck.

Understanding how your every day tasks affects the way your body reacts is the first step to pain free living. The Muscle Repair shop focuses on muscle health.

 We educate our clients and businesses about understanding the cause of the pain and how to maintain proper muscle health so they can live a pain free lifestyle. Butch Phelps is available for speaking engagements and workshops. Butch can be contacted at

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