Upper Back Pain

"What Causes It, Why Is It Occuring More and What Can You Do"

If you have upper back pain right now, there are a few questions and answers you want to know. Read on to find out what causes your pain, why it is more often in today's world and a simple way to ease pain now.

You will have read the statistics by now that lower back pain is more common than upper back pain. In fact - although this is true, the number of upper back type pains are increasing rapidly...

The big problem is that the statistics point out that relieving your pain has poor success, just as bad as lower back pain. Did you know that if you have pain now, only 25% of you will b e pain free in one year, the rest are worse or the same.

To help understand why this happens, you need to understand more about your upper back and how pain develops.

Why Is Pain in Your Upper Back Increasing?

Probably the easiest question to answer, the reason is simple...

Life is busier and more stressful!

Your upper back is now under more stress as you sit at work for longer. The stresses and pressures at work are greater, you rest and relax less, and life is generally harder and you're under more strain.

When you sit, your upper back has more pressure on it. As the muscles and joints are smaller and more refined, they are less adept at handling this pressure. They therefore tighten quickly and pain develops.

If your muscles and joints are out of balance, this daily postural stress will quickly cause pain from your normal tasks. Why?

Did you know that your head is the heaviest part of your body, and your upper back has to carry this weight every day. As soon as you sit, you tend to lean your head forward. This places huge strain on your upper back.

The upper back tires, the muscles tighten and pain develops.

What Causes your Upper Back Pain?

All back pain causes are the same, whether you have upper back or lower back pain. Imbalances occur in your muscles and joints due to various distortion patterns that develop.

Why these patterns develop is explained more on our web page on back pain causes.

However...

Your upper back has the added factors of your ribs and diaphragm. Both of these can also lead to pain in your upper back.

Your rib cage can tighten, the diaphragm muscle can tire ...

But, you cannot rest either of these. Try not breathing for a few minutes and see what happens.

If these are out of balance, along with other structural imbalances, upper back pain is likely.

Too many people believe that any back pain is caused by lifting incorrectly, or bending in the wrong way, or how you sit, stand, bend or twist. These are the last stresses that allow pain to occur, but they are not the actual cause.

The underlying causes are the various distortion patterns and imbalances that allow your upper back to tire. As the area tires, the muscles tighten, create Trigger Points and pain soon develops.

This leads you to the final question...

A Simple Way To Ease Upper Back Pain

Easing your pain quickly is simple enough, the following technique will help to ease tension and may help with your pain.

A word of warning - this is temporary relief only, you must still remove ALL the causes if you want long lasting relief.

For now, all you need to do is ease some muscle tension in your upper back to help with pain relief. It is a hard area to stretch, but a simple technique you can use helps to ease pain.

A common cause of pain is trigger points in your muscles. The Trapezius muscle is one of the more likely locations of these points, although other muscles will occur also.

The X on the picture indicates the area to rub or press to find the Trigger Point. You will know a point is present as it will feel tender to press and may refer pain to your back or neck. It will feel like a small lump.

To release the point, apply firm pressure on the area with your fingertips (usually you will need help to reach this) or by using a tennis ball and lying on the ball.

Press firmly, but not aggressively on the point. Hold this pressure there while you take a deep breath in, then breathe out and relax as you do while keeping pressure on the trigger point. Doing this a few times should release the trigger point and ease some pain.

To prevent these points returning, you still need to address the underlying causes of your pain.

So...

The First Step To Relieve Upper Back Pain?

Trigger point work, or stretching will help to reduce tension in your upper back. However, this is a symptom based approach and pain will return.

To get long lasting results you must remove all the imbalances and distortion patterns that occur in your spine. Your lower and upper back are connected. When you walk both your arms and legs move.

With back pain, commonly both areas are involved, which is why the first step in upper back pain relief is not jumping into a stretching or exercise routine.

The first step is identifying which type of imbalance or distortion pattern you have.

Without knowing what to target, you are literally hoping and praying to get pain relief. Once you know which pattern exists, symptom relief can be targeted towards the areas creating pain, while to address the underlying causes.

The first thing you should do is request a copy of our Free Back Pain Relief Guide teaching you how to find these patterns. Then you can target the causes of your upper back pain and get long lasting relief

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