Here’s a question from a reader:

I’ve been suffering with awful headaches for years now.  I have what i call “knots” in my neck, upper back, shoulder blade area, and shoulders.  All of this is on my right side.  I’ve been to many doctors, I’m in physical therapy right now, and nothing has helped.  I’m looking for exercises that I can do to break up these “knots”.  The headaches are becoming unbearable.  They start at the base of my skull and radiate through my head, into the front of my face.  On top of this,  I was just diagnosed with severe thoracic outlet syndrome on my right side.
I can’t wait to feel like myself again.
Please help.

Here’s my answer:

I feel you.  I do not think there is anything that interferes more with life than head pain.  Here are my best long distance thoughts.

The thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS) is related to your headaches.  The muscles that are causing the TOS are the same that are part of the cause of your headaches.  You may need a massage therapist to help you relax the muscles that are causing these headaches and knots in your muscles.  I will also give you self-help ideas.

The reason you have the headaches is because trigger points in your upper shoulders and neck are ‘firing’ pain into your head.  Those muscles are ‘tight’ and complaining due to shortened muscles in your chest or your lower back on your right side.  The shortened muscles pull on your shoulder and back muscles and cause them to complain and develop trigger points.

But the real problem–the real cause–starts in the shortened muscles in the chest and side of your armpit.  (In a nutshell.)

So why did those muscles get short?

Well, the problem is usually posture.  From your symptoms, I KNOW your pain is related to your posture.  Bodies are logical and work in specific ways.  If this happens, then a result will happen.  In your case, the result is pain.

But that’s okay.  Why?  Because this is muscle-related and muscles are treatable! 

If you go to a massage therapist be sure to interview that person first.  Here’s how:

http://simplepainrelief.com/category/massage/  This link will take you to several articles about how and why massage works and what to expect.  One of the older articles will explain how to interview a massage therapist.

And you will find lots of other articles I have written about upper back pain and knots in your back right here at Simple Back Pain Relief.

Here are some self-help ideas for right now:

1.  Use ice massage or cold packs on your upper shoulders and the back and sides of your neck.  A bag of frozen peas or corn works fine.

2.  Lie on your back.  Do this on the floor if you can.  Do you see how your right shoulder is farther from the floor?  That means the muscles in the front of your shoulder are short.  Try to press your shoulders to the floor.  This movement helps strengthen the muscles in your upper back and it also stretches and lengthens the short chest muscles.  Do it only a few times so you don’t get soreness from over-exercising those muscles.  They will get stronger and you can do more and more of these shoulder presses over time.

3.  Look in the mirror.  Is your right shoulder is lower than the left?  If so, that means the muscles next to your armpit in back and along that side of your back are also short.  They need to be lengthened.  Side stretches will help.

4.  There is a blue book on the right hand side of the page at http://SimplePainRelief.com  It is a self-help book for trigger points.  It is easy to read and to do.  I really like it.  You can click on it to order a copy or ask your local librarian to order it for you but it’s a great reference to have at home and you will use it a LOT!

Since you are seeing a physical therapist, if it is difficult to do the side stretches with your arm raised over your head, ask for assistance.  It’s okay to stretch both sides of your body but the short side needs to be stretched 4x as much as the unaffected side.  That is what allows change to occur–stretch the short side 4 times as much.

You used to feel well and I believe you will feel well again.  You have a smart body.  It just needs a little help from you right now.

Everything in your body is attached to everything else.  When you have knots in your back, that is a symptom.  Head pain is another symptom.  Symptoms mean there are muscles, habits or postures that need some care.

You can get rid of the knots in your back and your headaches at the same time. 

Not likely any of those.  It’s muscles!  (Well, maybe your job is contributing, too.)

A recent commenter said the knots in her upper back are caused by a herniated disk.  But that’s taking things out of sequence.  (And that‘s really, really common in the medical field.)

You see, disks cannot move on their own.  Neither can bones.  So how do they move?

You got it:  Muscles!  Muscles move bones and disks.  That’s their job.

So how do disks get herniated?  (We will assume there is not a whiplash or other serious tossing-around injury.)

When muscles get out of balance they don’t hold the bones in a neutral position anymore.  Instead the muscles pull or push the bones and disks out of alignment.  They can actually push a disk out of place!

“Out of balance” means muscles on one side are too short or tight.  On the other side they are too loose or weak.

This means pain in your upper back and neck.

What’s the solution?

In a nutshell, strengthen the muscles on the back side of your body.  Stretch and lengthen the muscles on the front side.

And don’t forget you also have muscles on the sides of your body.  They probably need lengthening and stretching, too!

Other things such as nutrition can also play a big part in how happy your muscles are.  If you eat healthy and exercise and get plenty of water into your body your muscles will be nicer to you in return.

And posture plays a huge role in upper back pain.  I created a self-help program for upper back pain and knots and in that program I actually have a video that will help you get straighter and stronger in a simple, easy way.

If you’d like to know more about the upper back pain relief program, please click here:  http://KnotsInYourBack.com

I recorded a teleseminar about this very thing.  There is no cost and you don’t have to sign up for anything. It’s kind of lengthy but it does share lots of helpful information.

You will discover the causes of pain in your back (and other parts of your body, too.)  Click this green link –> Lower Back Pain Recording and start learning how to get rid of the pain in your low back naturally.

> Dear Kathryn, Here’s a testimonial for you:
>
> I am an occupational therapist and I know better.  I have preached for
> years that we need to stretch our chests and strengthen our upper
> backs/posterior shoulder girdles.  However, I have been having spasms
> between my shoulder blades and spine (mostly on the right), and I have
> spent what seems like endless hours in hot baths, on the heating pad,
> and lying on tennis balls or pushing as hard as possible against my
> shiatsu
> massage chair.  These techniques often relieved the spasms, but only
> temporarily; not to mention that it left me with a bruise-type pain for
> days from pushing so hard.  One day, feeling beyond frustrated, I
> started searching the web.  That is when I came across your site and had
> that AHA moment (in a “duh” fashion for me).  I had been missing the thing
> I preach so much about!!  (We healthcare professionals are such bad
> patients).  I instantly stood and did the corner stretch and doorway
> stretch, then cut a piece of Theraband and started some scapular
> strengthening exercises (specifically external roataion and horizontal
> abduction).  Boy, did I feel it on the right, but I kept going and guess
> what?  Within 2 days, I was FINE.  Pain-free, spasm-free, and H-A-P-P-Y!
> Thanks for the reminder.  We all need to be smacked upside the head from
> time to time.  =)
>
> ~Katie F.

I appreciate Katie writing and sharing her story.  She started out by chasing symptoms.  She ended up by attacking the CAUSE of her upper back spasms.  And that’s how she got rid of her symptoms. 

So, you see?  Read the articles here and take action.  Look for the cause of your pain.

You CAN have natural relief of the knots in your upper back. 

Flat feet or ‘fallen arches’ can cause the ‘foundation’ of your body to be faulty. Instead of standing up with nice posture, people without arches in their feet tend to fall forward posture-wise.

Here’s how to demonstrate this:

Stand normally. Now make an arch in your feet. Lift your arches and then let it go. Let your feet be flat again.

Okay. Do it again.

This time, when you lift your arches pay attention to where your body and head are. Let your arches collapse and you will have the sensation of your head moving forward.

That’s what happens with no arches.  Your posture collapses. 

And that causes strain on your poor neck and upper back muscles.  Actually, it’s not so great for your lower back or head, either.

The least expensive, longest lasting and easiest to obtain arch supports I have found are at running shoe stores. At this time, the cost is around $30 for a pair. They are firm and follow the length of your arch in a nice swoop (as opposed to a rock under your arch.) Don’t just buy your size–try on the size up and down from your normal size to get the arch that feels best to you.

And then don’t start wearing them all day right off the bat. Rather, wear for an hour or two the first day or two. Then you can increase the time over the following days. This way the muscles in your legs, feet, hips and back can adjust to the correction gradually.

Flat feet can definitely cause back pain and shoulder blade pain and arch supports can help you straighten up, stand taller and get rid of your upper back pain naturally.

Well, muscles move the bones, joints and disks in your spine.  Muscles are the prime movers of your body!  You can only move because you have muscles.

Yay, muscles!! 

On the other hand, when your muscles get out of balance–too strong on one side of your body and too weak on the other then we don’t say, “Yay, muscles!”

We say, “Ouch!”

Dang muscles. 

Well, it’s not their fault.  They wouldn’t be unhappy and complaining if we did everything perfectly in all of our movements.

But we don’t. 

But we can change.   Here’s how:

You can add movements that balance your low back muscles better.  You can use all of your muscles instead of the same old ones over and over.

Did you know we have over 600 muscles in our bodies?  Yet most of us get stuck using the same 70 or so over and over.  This is what creates muscle imbalance.

Here are two common scenarios:

• If the muscles in the front of your body are stronger than the back muscles, they will give you too much curve in your lower back.
• If the muscles in the back are stronger than the front, that will pull the curve out of your lower back.  You will not have enough of a hollow behind your waist.

Either of those situations will cause pain in your low back (and your neck and head.)

There is a really interesting program at http://BackPainFreedom.com.  (<– click here)  You might not be interested in the program, and that’s okay, but please do go there because I want you to see something.

Scroll down after you click that link and you will see good pictures that show exactly what I am talking about.  They will show how muscles affect the curve in your lower back and how that causes pain.

And if you keep scrolling down you will discover why sometimes exercises for low back pain just don’t work.  (Because they are not the ones your body needs!)

The causes of low back pain vary from person to person.  That means the movements for you to do to feel better will also vary.

One size does not fit all.

And you can always find more articles right here at http://SimpleBackPainRelief.com about the causes and natural remedies for lower back pain.

The answer is not to attack only the area where it hurts because those are just symptoms. The answer is to get to the cause of your pain. Figure out the cause of your knots and get rid of it.

It could be posture-related. Do you slouch or slump?

It could be that you always lean into the same corner of the couch.

It could be your heavy book bag that causes you to lean forward.

It definitely is something and that something needs to be changed so you will stop getting these knots.

And did you knw that muscles need minerals to function their best? Do you eat a good diet that supplies lots of vitamins and minerals or do you eat mostly pre-packaged, highly processed foods and fast foods? They cannot supply what your muscles need.

You cannot fool your muscles with fake foods.

One more thing: The knots in your back may be caused because of tight muscles in the front of your body. Most of the time we have our hands and heads in front of our body and this shortens the muscles in the fronts of our chests, abdomen, arms and neck. And maybe you slouch.

That means the muscles in the front of the body need to be stretched. They are most often the culprit!

If you can give your body movement, nutrition, stretching in the right directions and good posture you can get rid of your knots.  Click here –>to get your free report about the five most common causes of those miserable knots in your shoulders and discover how to get rid of them naturally.

In fact, they often say it is idiopathic.  That means ‘no known cause.’

Well, maybe.  Sometimes.

Here are some thoughts:

1. Everything has a cause.  It just requires digging to find the root of the problem.

2. Pain medicines will not help you get rid of the curvature in your spine.

3. If you do not get rid of the original causes of your scoliosis your curves will continue to worsen over time because of gravity.

4. Some people have scoliosis because of a imbalance in the structure of the pelvic bones, leg bones or spine bones. If you are diagnosed with an S-curve, I’m betting it starts in the structure of your lower body.  Or, if your spine has a bone that is a triangle instead of a rectangle, this can cause a tilt.

5. Look at your feet when you are standing as straight and upright as you can. Do you have an arch in each foot? Or is one flat?  One flat foot will cause scoliosis.

6. Look in the mirror. Do you wear bluejeans and a belt? Stand as straight as you can and look straight into the mirror. Use the pockets of the jeans and the belt as markers. Can you see one pocket more fully than the other side? Is your belt tilted down to one side? Those are clues that your scoliosis starts in your feet or leg bones.

7.  Travell & Simons MD’s state that a leg length difference of 1/8″ or more becomes critical to our health. Even that little of a difference will throw us into dysfunction and start scoliosis.

8. Muscles are a primary cause of spinal distortions and pain.  There are excellent massage therapists who can help correct your scoliosis. http://StJohn-ClarkPtc.com is the address for Paul St. John who is a genius in looking at the structure of the body and making manual corrections. I suspect his colleagues are also very talented. They are muscle therapists.

Paul teaches massage therapists like me to do this but very few actually do.  He is in FL and he helped me get rid of my own scoliosis and I have watched him straighten out others, too. This kind of therapist starts with a postural assessment to determine from where the dysfunction or asymmetry starts. (As opposed to just treating symptoms as much of conventional medicine does.) And then this therapy addresses the areas of muscle that pull your spine into curves.

Even after you are straighter, you will have to take action to stay straight. This may mean a lift on the whole bottom of one shoe (no one ever notices) and stretching in the correct directions and in the correct proportions.

Pain and knots are symptoms. They mean your muscles aren’t happy.  Scoliosis is a symptom of something. Everyone has a different something.  I can’t promise that you will be straight as a tree but you gotta try to get to the root of the problem so you can start to feel better and get rid of your scoliosis naturally.

It gets blamed for pain all the time but it is usually NOT the muscle at fault!  Poor rhomboid.

Rhomboid area pain is typically caused by that area being over-stretched.  The burning is a symptom.  You have to figure out the cause and get rid of it.

Your neck could be involved if the scalene muscles on the side of your neck are causing you to have a ‘knot’ in your back.  The scalene muscles in your neck can have trigger points that cause burning in the rhomboid area or knots in your back but the burning can also be caused by simple mechanical over-stretch.

If you strengthen the muscles in the back of your neck, back and thighs and stretch and lengthen the muscles in the front of your body from knees to chin, you will be working to re-balance your body.  This is good!

Since there is an excellent chance that the muscles in the front of your body are too strong and tight and short already, they don‘t need strengthening.  They need lengthening.

There are ways to sit more comfortably at the computer so you don’t over-stretch your rhomboid area.

Using a mouse?  Try this:

1.  Switch hands.  It really can be done. 
2.  Bring your elbow closer to your waist when you work–no stretching.  Stretching aggravates muscle in the rhomboid area–it gets overstretched and complains.
3.  No slouching.  A strong back will help prevent slouching.
4.  Using a laptop?  Get a separate monitor or keyboard so you can work more ergonomically.

A foam roller or roll made of a long towel or piece of carpet is excellent for laying on to allow you to stretch and lengthen the muscles in the front of your chest and arm.  If it’s narrow enough for you to lay on long-ways (with the full length of your spine and head on it) you can also use it as a tool to squeeze your shoulder blades against.  That will help strengthen the muscles between your shoulder blade and spine.  Then those muscles can better hold their own against being over-stretched.

If you need more self-help ideas and ways to treat the knots in your back,<– click here.

Taking these actions can help to get rid of this nasty ache in your rhomboid.

The first thing is to figure out WHY you are getting these knots.  I’m not being silly here.

There are always reasons why you have pain.  Usually the reasons involve muscles.

Muscles move bones.  Muscles can press on nerves.  Muscles are usually overlooked as being causes of pain.

So the answer is not to attack only the area where it hurts because those are just symptoms.

The answer is to get to the root cause of your knot. Figure out the cause of your back pain and get rid of the cause.

It could be posture-related. Do you slouch or slump?

It could be that you always lean into the same corner of the couch.

It could be your heavy book bag that causes you to lean forward.

It is something and that something needs to be changed so you will stop getting these knots.

And muscles need minerals to function their best. Do you eat a good diet that supplies lots of vitamins and minerals or do you eat mostly pre-packaged, highly processed foods and fast foods? They cannot supply what your muscles need.

You cannot fool your muscles with fake foods.

One more thing: The knots in your back may be caused by tight muscles in the front of your body.

Most of the time we have our hands and heads in front of our body and this shortens the muscles in the fronts of our chest, abdomen, arms and neck. That means the muscles in the front of the body need to be stretched. They are most often the culprit!

If you can give your body movement, nutrition, stretching in the right directions and good posture you can get rid of the knots in your back naturally.