Category Archives: Upper Back Pain

Self Help, Shoulder Pain, Stress, Upper Back Muscle Knots

How Does Stress Cause Knots in Your Shoulder Muscles

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get rid of muscles knots upper backDo you know that stress can cause muscle knots in your upper back?  It’s true.  Read on…

Do you remember the science fiction suspense television series called The Twilight Zone?

Let’s enter now into the Twilight Zone of Knots In Your Back.

Host Rod Serling often said “Imagine this”:  (So, Imagine this:)

You are driving.  Traffic is moving fast.  Big trucks are all around, weaving in and out.

Other drivers are tail-gating.

The sun is hitting the car windows ahead of you and blasting right into your eyes.  The driver behind you is blaring his horn.

You are almost out of gas and have no money to get more!

Do you feel your shoulders lifting and tightening up yet?

The other muscles to tighten would be your jaw and neck.  Your head moves forward; your chin juts out.

You have mental stress when you are in a tight situation like the heavy traffic.  Mental stress causes changes in the way you hold your body so your muscles contract–they become tight.

Tight muscles cause discomfort.  Bodies just don’t like to be all bound up.

And if you keep your stress posture long enough–shoulders hiked, jaw tight–your chest muscles will tighten and shorten, too.  In fact, maybe they already are short and tight just because of the day to day positions your work in.

That, in a nutshell, is an example of how stress can cause knots in your shoulders.

I don’t want to leave you all stressed-up like that so here’s a little meditation for you…

Imagine this:

The weather is perfect.  A soft breeze kisses your cheeks and the setting sun is warming your skin perfectly.

Birds are lining the rustling trees, making their sleepy noises, settling in for the night.  The moon is rising and the sky is becoming rosy and then indigo.

A million stars are twinkling overhead and the cooler breeze is lulling you to sleep.  You can fall asleep easily and rest well.

There is always enough…

Meditation is one way to relieve stress.  There are other easy, self-help ways to start to reduce your physical stress so you can more easily deal with day-to-day stresses at Knots In Your Back.

When your body has more muscular ‘balance’ (like a toddler does) it reduces body stress and pain and lessens mental stress.  It’s like peeling stressful layers off one at a time.

Toddlers:  No stress.  No muscle knots.  🙂

You can get rid of the stressful muscle knots in your shoulders!

Your smart body wants to be well.

 

 

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Shoulder Pain

Pain In Your Shoulder Joint–What Causes Pain In Your Shoulder?

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There are many causes of shoulder joint pain.  Of course, the most common cause is muscles.  If the muscles in your neck, chest, back or anywhere in the shoulder area are out-of-balance (that means tighter on one side than the other) that can cause pain in your shoulder.

When you look at pictures of a shoulder skeleton you will see that without muscles the whole thing would just fall apart.

Muscles hold skeletons together and they move bones.

Muscles cross over joints.  They attach one bone to another.  That’s how we are able to move.  A muscle moves the bone when we contract (shorten) the muscle.

The muscles of the shoulder area can become  out-of-balance and they can also develop trigger points.

Trigger points are areas of specialized tightness that are very irritable.  The irritable places can cause pain nearby or at a far distance.

Trigger points can make it hard to move your arm, shoulder or shoulder blade properly and so can muscles that are too strong on one side and too weak on the other (out-of-balance.)

Your shoulder has four muscles that are called the rotator cuff muscles.

  1. One is packed onto the lower outside 2/3’s of your shoulder blade (infraspinatis.)
  2. One is packed into the top of the shoulder blade (supraspinatis.)
  3. One is sandwiched between your shoulder blade and your ribs (subscapularis.)
  4. The fourth is on the outer side of your shoulder blade and attaches to your arm (terres.)

The rotator cuff muscles keep your arm bone in the socket and allow you to rotate your upper arm.

But those are not the only muscles that can cause shoulder joint pain.  Others can, too.

Sometimes Continue reading Pain In Your Shoulder Joint–What Causes Pain In Your Shoulder? →

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Self Help, Upper Back Muscle Knots, Upper Back Pain

How To Strengthen Your Upper Back To Relieve Upper Back Muscle Pain

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It takes a lot of work to get rid of your upper back muscle pain.  But it’s well worth it!

The problem that causes your back pain is probably a weak back or poor posture (same thing!)  Strengthening your upper back can relief miserable muscle pain.

Here’s an email I received:

> Honestly Kathryn, I ‘ve been a little worse. I’ve been trying to
> strenghthen my upper back since I sit all day at a desk, and it seems like
> my shoulders KILL me the day after. I’ve only done it a couple of times; do
> you think that once they actually get used to working, it might help? My
> upper body is SO weak. I would love your advice on this.

Here’s my response:

If you do strengthening movements too often right off the bat your muscles will ache just as they will from any new exercise program that’s done too aggressively.  As they get stronger you will feel better.

It’s good to start slowly and thoughtfully.

Do your strengthening movement only a few times to start.  You can do more and more repetitions as your body adjusts.

You can also use a foam noodle to help relax the muscles in the front of your body and start strengthening your back.  Lay over the noodle (or towel rolled long-wise) so the noodle is behind your spine.  Let your shoulder blades “fall” to the floor.

Getting rid of your upper back pain is a two part process:

  1. Stretch the muscles in front of your body.
  2. Strengthen your back.

I also have a website called http://SimpleStrengthening.com

If you haven’t been there yet I have articles with simple movements that you can do in bed to strengthen your upper back and help correct your posture.

All of those movements–and more–are in the Simple Strengthening video that is included in the Knots In Your Back program I created just for people with upper back pain (like you.)

You have smart muscles.  They just need a bit of help from you right now to get rid of your upper back pain naturally.

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Upper Back Pain

How To Get Rid Of Upper Back Pain With Heat

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Oh, my aching shoulders!  My upper back aches!  My ‘traps’ are killing me!

In a nutshell, poor posture is usually to blame for upper back pain.  Here’s why:

When your heavy head hangs in front of your body and your shoulders are rolled forward it strains the muscles in your upper back.  It might not matter for a few minutes but it matters when you do it for hours on end.  🙁

Correcting your posture is the best to avoid upper back pain but heat can help in the meantime.

Here’s how to use heat to help your upper back muscles feel better:  Use it on your WHOLE upper body.

If you apply heat packs or a heating pad only to the strained part it will weaken it further.  It may feel good temporarily but then you will notice it still hurts or even feels a little worse.

But if you direct the hot water on your whole upper body–front, sides and back–it will help relax the muscles in the front of your body, too.

And the muscles in the front of your body NEED to be relaxed!  They are a big part of the problem.

You see, the muscles in the front of your body tend to get short and tight just from everyday activities.  They pull us forward and that strains back muscles.

When you use heat packs on your upper chest and arms as well as your back it will help those tight muscles relax.  Then your muscles will be more balanced and you will have less strain and pain in your upper back muscles.  🙂

You can learn more about the causes and natural cures for miserable upper back pain at Knots In Your Back Gone!

 

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Self Help, Upper Back Pain

How To Get Rid Of Knots In Your Upper Back

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Do you have  nasty knots in your upper back?

Muscles are the problem.  Angry muscles!  Let’s see what you can do to make them happier.

First, let’s try to figure out WHY you have this knot.

Did you wake up with it or just get it today?  Or has it been bugging you for a long time?

Is it on the side of your body that gets the most use?  Is it on your dominant side?

It may be harder to get rid of a knot that you have had for a long time than one you just got today.  That’s because now there are more muscles involved–it may not be just a simple knot anymore.

If you just got the knot today think about which muscles you were using right before the knot started to bug you.  What position were you in?

Knots usually happen because (1) the muscle is being strained or over-stretched or (2) the muscle is being over-used or held in a Continue reading How To Get Rid Of Knots In Your Upper Back →

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Self Help, Upper Back Pain

You Can Get Rid Of Upper Back Pain With This Simple Tool – Video

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Here’s a little video that shows how to get rid of upper back pain and muscle strain using a simple tool that you might already have in your home.  And if you don’t already have it, you can easily make one.  Enjoy!

 

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Shoulder Pain

Two Most Common Causes Of Frozen Shoulder

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If it’s become hard to lift your arm you may have a “frozen shoulder.”

The muscles around the shoulder joint can go into spasm and prevent the natural movement of your arm.  That’s why it’s called “frozen shoulder.”

If you didn’t hurt to lift your arm yesterday but it suddenly does today–or if you became unable to raise your arm following an injury or fall–there’s a good chance that muscles are causing the restriction in your range of motion (rather than the joint itself).

The deltoid muscle is a common culprit.  It is at the top of your arm.  It is the cap muscle.  You can treat it by seeking tender areas of muscle and pressing, massage or pinching them.

The subscapularis is another common culprit.  It can be treated by pressing into it.   It is sandwiched between your ribs and your shoulder blade so the pressure has to go between the back ribs and the shoulder blade.  It’s usually accessed near the armpit.

The subscap (for short) is not easy to press into yourself but you can still do some self-help like this:

Get down on all fours and pretend you are a lion and lift and roll your shoulder blades as you ‘walk’ like a lion.  Doing this will help stretch the subscap.  Roll those shoulder blades!

When I fell backward years ago (before I got into this field and know what I know now) I woke the next morning and was unable to lift my arm.

I went to physical therapy for Continue reading Two Most Common Causes Of Frozen Shoulder →

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Causes of Back Pain, Neck Pain, Upper Back Muscle Knots, Upper Back Pain

Why Do You Have Muscle Knots In Your Back?

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I received the cutest email today from a man who has knots in his back.  He said he loves to slouch but when he does he gets pain in his upper back and in his head.

He loves to slouch.

He gets pain when he slouches.

His question was whether therapy would help him get rid of the pain.

But he said he knows it comes from slouching and he just loves slouching on the couch so much!

Well, I told him that he already knows the answer.  In fact, he did a really good job of diagnosing where the pain comes from.

I also said that if the therapist helps him get a strong back and relax the muscles in the front of his body and neck it would help a lot.  Mostly, it will help keep him out of slouching positions.

And since his body will be more balanced, if he does still slouch once in a while, it won’t be so likely to cause the pain in his jaw and the knots in his back.

That’s the type of self-help information you can get for your own “muscle knots” in your upper back if you go to –> Knots In Your Back Gone!  (I made it easy just for you.)

Slouching and slumping can definitely cause muscle knots in your back!

Your new goal is to correct your posture to avoid back pain naturally. 🙂

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Upper Back Muscle Knots, Upper Back Pain

What Are Knots In Your Back?

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Are you wondering what’s inside the muscle knots in your back?  Basically, the same stuff that’s outside the knots.  Muscles, tissue, that sort of thing.

Yes, there are some chemical reactions that take place in muscles when they get unhappy but my job is to help you without getting technical.  So I will. 🙂

Try this:

Squeeze your fist really tightly.  It’s not very comfortable but if you hold it for a few minutes you will be able to tell that the muscles in your lower arm are also getting tight.  Depending on the position of your arm, you might even feel the muscle tension in your upper arm.

Muscle knots are like that closed fist.  They are in Continue reading What Are Knots In Your Back? →

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Upper Back Pain

Tip For Better Posture To Get Rid Of Upper Back Muscle Strain And Pain

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Want to know how to get rid of upper back muscle strain naturally?  Grow better posture.

I said ‘grow’ because you can do that.  I’ll share how later.

When muscles are strained they complain.  They give you pain.

Do you know what strains the muscles in your upper back?  Poor posture!

And things like this:  A heavy head pulling on them.  Muscles don’t like that.  They get strained.  Strain = pain.  🙁

The job of your neck and upper back muscles is NOT to hold your heavy head from falling to the floor.  Their job is to let you move your head comfortably in many directions.

You can get a “forward head” from sitting in chairs and car seats that lean back.  They make you press your head forward.

Also, slouching or slumping with a rounded back causes a forward head and upper back pain.

A rounded back is a weak back and we need Continue reading Tip For Better Posture To Get Rid Of Upper Back Muscle Strain And Pain →

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