Anyone had mid back pain for >3 weeks?

[DawnP]

I am on my fourth week of mid back pain with no relief from ice, heat, chiropractoric adjustments or physical therapy.

My primary doctor took an x-ray to rule out a spinal compression fracture.

The pain is around my T4 vertebrae and it causes severe muscle spasms and crawling pain under my left scapula.

No change in habits, workspace or exercising that could've contributed.

The only thing that brings a little relief is a posture back brace - ugly & uncomfortable but it brings the pain down from a 6 out of 10 to a 4.

Has anyone else had this? I've been icing & doing PT exercises and am using Denise Beatty's Fitness Fix DVD without success.

[luvcritters]

Sorry you're having back pain. I get pain in the same area. It comes when my pelvis is uneven. It seems like a dumb question but did your PT and chiropractor check your pelvis? Along with the pelvis I have spinal problems and SI joint dysfunction. Nothing can bring me down like the spasms at the scapula. I hope you find relief.

[beyond.omega]

Ouch. Sorry you are going through this. I had this a few years ago, except maybe not quite as bad - around a 4-5 out of 10. I never found an exercise to make it go away, but it did recede when I started regular massage therapy - 1.5 hour full body massage every other week. The therapist used a technique that releases the fascia (rolfing/structural integration.)

For anything upper body, I tend to reach for Barbara Benagh's Yoga for Stress Relief-Passive Neck/Shoulders/Upper Back routine. This plus the SI Joint routine on the same DVD, gave me some general relief, but the mid-back tension never quite went away without massage.

[suzannaerin]

Could your chest muscles be tight? I agree with Omega, a good massage therapist could help. In my experience, a good MT will do more than treat the symptom.

[LindaL]

Have you tried releasing your psoas? I had terrible mid-back pain and massage just made it worse. Through trial and error I did something similar to the video, but I was lying prone on the tennis ball. You could even just press the ball with your hand if you don't want to use weight.

https://yurielkaim.com/unusual-psoas-stretch/

[eventmom]

I'm having a similar issue but nothing has really helped - have done chiropractor, accupunture, stretching (CS/ESS), melt. Massage appt. next week - rolfer is not an option.
sihg. so following!

[DawnP]

Originally Posted by LindaL

Have you tried releasing your psoas?...
https://yurielkaim.com/unusual-psoas-stretch/

I am sincerely grateful to Linda L for her recommendation.

I was on week 4 of severe mid-back pain and really wrestling with horrible spasms beneath my left scapula and I did a FitnessFix workout that had some hip flexor stretches and the pain went away for an hour.

Hmmmm....

Linda suggested I consider releasing my psoas (a hip flexor muscle) - so I checked my psoa tightness by doing the "Thomas Test" that I found online and lo & behold, my psoas were very tight.

My sister has recommended yoga practices by "Yoga with Adriene" and even though I hate yoga, I tried Adriene's Yoga for Psoas youtube workout and the pain went away!

So I have literally been doing this yoga workout TWICE A DAY because it keeps the pain away.

I have been sitting a lot lately (work, auto-immune flare-up that limited my walking & standing) and apparently this has shortened & tightened my psoas. I guess static sitting and leaning forward with a hunched posture will do this.

The psoas wrap around from your back to the front of your hip and into your pelvis. When it's tight, it pulls your pelvis up and can cause lumbar or lower back pain. I guess a few lucky folks like me will actually have mid-back pain.

Can you believe it? I went from being a yoga hater to being truly inspired. I am now the proud owner of several LaCrosse balls that I am using to do the pressure point release exercises that Linda recommended.

I'm off to PT in a few weeks, because it took 2 weeks to get my insurance to approve it & the clinic is pretty booked up.

I wonder if the physical therapists will be able to confirm the source of my back pain and recommend additional exercises and treatments.

Getting old stinks. But I am grateful to my friends here at VF for looking out for me!

[LindaL]

Dawn, I'm so glad it helped!

[toaster]

Wow, I thought I was the only one with mid-back pain!

When I have tried to Google relief/exercises, all I have gotten is stuff for upper back tightness and low back pain, neither of which is helpful. More recently, I did watch a video on You Tube that described rhomboid tendinitis--this addressed the mid-back area seemed closest to my issue.

My problem has definitely been chronic, I would say 6 months, maybe even up to a year. It is on and off--it will be really bad for weeks, then get better. I have no idea what caused it and why it flares up/goes away. I'm a yoga teacher, so I do quite a bit of stretching/yoga. But I am also communing a total of 90 minutes a day and sit a lot (although neither has changed).

My pain/discomfort goes from in-between my shoulder blades down to the bottom tips. Sometimes it is pretty mild, more like muscle soreness, but sometimes it can be very sharp!

Interesting about the psoas stretching being helpful. When I had low back issues awhile back (before this), stretching the psoas definitely helped, so I should try this again.

I'm glad I found this thread!!!

[bubbles76]

I'm so glad that you found relief! I'm going to tag this thread. I've never had mid back pain that lasted this long, but it's good to remember that everything is connected.