Upper Back Pain:
Upper back pain can be caused by any number of things. In this article I will be focusing on what I see most commonly with my clients, which are caused by postural/environmental factors resulting in muscle imbalances.
Let me start by explaining what I mean by postural/environmental factors and what a muscle imbalance is.
In general, as a society we spend a lot of our time sitting. Whether this is at a desk, on a sofa, or in a car, train, or plane. Then we wake up and the whole thing starts again.
I covered our daily sitting routine in more detail in a previous article about Lower Back Pain. This just emphasises how bad sitting for long periods of time is for us, that it can affect both upper and lower back.
Now some of us feel the urge, and rightly so, to go and do something active after work. Which is great.
There is just one problem with this. Because we are sat down all day certain muscles become inactive and certain muscles become overactive. Unfortunately, this means that as far as the brain is concerned the inactive muscles do not exist. So, when we then start exercising or even just moving, our brain uses the overactive muscles instead of the muscles we should be using. This then just compounds the problem and makes the overactive muscles tighter and more overactive and the inactive muscles more overstretched. Or as a former colleague of mine once put it “the strong get stronger and the weak get weaker”
So what does this have to do with upper back pain?
When we’re sat in static posture for an hour or more, either using a computer, tablet, phone, driving, basically anytime we’re doing anything with our hands out in front of us (which is pretty much everything). Our chest and Upper Trapezius (Traps) get tighter or overactive and pull our shoulders forward and up. This then causes an imbalance and makes our Lower Traps inactive or weak and overstretched. An example of use of an overactive muscle; if you were to pick up a heavy bag, you would use your Upper Traps & Pectorals as the prime movers instead of a muscle(s) that are designed for the job, for example, the Deltoids.
A tight muscle is quite happy being tight, so you generally won’t get any pain in it. Nine times out of ten our brain considers a tight or “short” muscle to be strong, so it will use it to do everything. You will however get pain in a muscle that’s being overstretched, and this is generally why we get pain between our shoulders. Upper Traps are the slight exception to this rule, as they get tighter, they can cause pain, referred pain and Tension Headaches.
Using a combination of Sports & Remedial Massage and Corrective exercises we can alleviate the tension in the inactive muscles and lengthen the overactive ones restoring the balance and reducing the ache and pain.
YOU Massage is currently closed until further notice. We can, however, still help you from the comfort of your home. If you are struggling with upper back pain or would like help with posture, stretching or exercises from home then please speak to one of our therapists online by visiting:
https://www.massage-southampton.co.uk/Book-Massage-Online.html
If you have any questions then please call us on 02380 639 747, we may not be able to answer immediately but one of our reception team will get back to you within 48 hours.
Stay safe and we look forwards to seeing you soon
