Why it’s so painful between your Shoulder Blades.
Since I graduated physiotherapy school, pain between the shoulder blades has been a very common complaint for many patients, especially women between ages 40 -65.
Pain in between the shoulder blades is often described as a stabbing pain or a burning pain. Sometimes patients describe a sharp pain that will turn into a dull ache. For patients that have been experiencing pain between the blades consistently over a few years on and off, they be suffering from a more chronic postural condition that will not go away on its own.
So here is the 411 on the ‘pain between your shoulder blades’ problem. It’s very common for the simple reason that we are a sedentary population – we drive everywhere, we work at a desk for 8-10 hours a day, we have little vacation, and most of us don’t get the exercise we need. Being sedentary and having a ‘C’ shaped posture can lead to 3 different conditions that will cause pain between the shoulder blades.
Here are the 3 conditions for causes of pain and burning between the shoulder blades:
Postural syndrome: This is when you slouch for way too long and your upper back muscles start to get so exhausted from holding you in that slouch position that they suffocate with lack of oxygen. So when you feel this pain you had enough of it you straighten out your back. The solution for postural syndrome is education and practice with a physiotherapist. They can show you simple easy to do exercises to perform at home in front of the mirror and a way you go! Also, a good back support would be good for you to remind you not to slouch.
Bulging disc or Herniated disc syndrome: This is not pretty. Sometimes this can take years to develop if you have poor posture or do very little or excessive activity. A big risk factor is working at a desk and heavy use of digital devices such as smart phone. Pain due to Bulging and herniated discs can vary in the degree of pain, usually it’s worse at the end of the day for most people like when they are just ‘sitting around’. People will typically report it doesn’t bother them when they’re active, it’s more after the activity or sometimes with something as easy as chopping vegetables that it bothers them. This absolutely needs to be evaluated by a experienced physiotherapist that has a good reputation of fixing people. For starters, a recommendation to relieve the pain and tension between the shoulder blades would be to lay on your back with a rolled towel under your neck and another one under your upper back (across). This position aims to push the spine into a more neutral position and thus relieving the pressure on the bulging or herniated disc.
Degenerative disc disease: more common throughout general population and is just the very beginning of the bulging and herniated disc syndrome. The disc is basically losing it’s sponginess and elasticity and the collagenous ring thats the outside of the disc starts to have tiny little tears or fissures in it. A good back support is highly recommended in these cases as well to offload the stress on the disc. Depending on how severe the Degenerative Disc Disease, or DDD, is, the more or less activity you will be able to do. However, studies strongly suggest that the best medicine for degenerative discs is upright movement (walking, the brisker the better) and stretching into the stiffness that you feel in the upper back with the guidance of a physiotherapist.
The take home point here is that pain between the shoulder blades is a sign that your spine is in distress.