Category Archives: Upper Back Pain

Massage, Natural Back Pain Relief, Self Help, Upper Back Muscle Knots, Upper Back Pain

How Can A Massage Therapist Tell If You Have Knots In Your Back Muscles

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Knots in your back muscles are caused by strain on the muscles (generally.)  “Knots” are actually tender, contracted areas of soft tissue or muscle.

Massage therapy may be an excellent “tool” to help you get rid of your knots or muscle spasms.

How does a massage  therapist find your knots?

Sometimes he or she will kind of just run into them. Either it feels ‘hard’ when all of the other tissue felt softer or a tight area will actually slow the gliding hand of a therapist as it explores and warms muscles.

A muscle knot or spasm feels like a small tight area that is harder then the surrounding tissue and perhaps raised.  Sometimes it feels like a pea or even as big as a tennis ball.  Sometimes nearby tissue is also tight.

Sometimes muscle knots are so obvious that just about anyone can feel them.  Sometimes knots are hidden or less obvious but a Continue reading How Can A Massage Therapist Tell If You Have Knots In Your Back Muscles →

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Upper Back Pain

How To Get Rid Of Knots On The Top Of Your Shoulders

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Are the tops of your shoulders knotted, painful and tight?

That most often means that you have been sitting or working with them scrunched or hiked up.  Muscles kind of  ‘get stuck’ in the positions that we use the most.

Here’s what to do to help those muscles relax and get rid of their knots:

1.  Squeeze your shoulders up to your ears hard.  (But not hard enough to hurt yourself.)  Hold them there for about a minute or Continue reading How To Get Rid Of Knots On The Top Of Your Shoulders →

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Natural Back Pain Relief, Upper Back Pain

Why Does Massage Get Rid Of Upper Back Pain?

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Massage therapy can be excellent natural medicine for upper back pain.

Massage usually feels good and is good for you, too.  It boosts your immune system, improves your circulation and can even get rid of pain.

Therapeutic massage can help get rid of upper back pain when it’s directed to helping you regain muscular balance.  That means the therapist will help normalize muscles that are too tight or too weak.

Upper back pain is most often caused by Continue reading Why Does Massage Get Rid Of Upper Back Pain? →

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Causes of Back Pain, Natural Back Pain Relief, Self Help, Upper Back Pain

Why Do Teens Get Knots In Their Backs

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Are you a teenager with “knots” in your back by your shoulder blades?  Or do you know a teen who complains of upper back pain?

Why does this happen?

The muscles in the front of bodies are actually about 30% stronger than the muscles in the back of the body.

Get rid of muscles knots in your back naturally!
Get rid of muscle knots in your back naturally!

When someone spends a lot of time in positions that Continue reading Why Do Teens Get Knots In Their Backs →

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Causes of Back Pain, Upper Back Pain

What Causes Those Miserable Knots and Muscle Spasms In Your Upper Back

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Why are muscles spasms in upper backs such a common problem now?

Here’s a list of some of the most common reasons for those miserable muscle knots:

Lifestyle.
Computers.
Couches.
Laptops.
Car seats.
Working positions.
Habits.
Weak back muscles.
TMS (Too Much Sitting).
TMJF (Too Much Junk Food) Poor nutrition.
Mineral deficiencies.

But all of these can be overcome.

Honest!  It’s your body and you have to take action to get better.  No one can do it for you.  (But some people, like Continue reading What Causes Those Miserable Knots and Muscle Spasms In Your Upper Back →

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Upper Back Pain

Getting Rid of Knots in Your Upper Back

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Muscle knots in upper back
You can get rid of miserable muscle ‘knots’ in your upper back naturally!

Can you get rid of the muscle “knots” in your upper back that are causing you pain naturally?  You sure can.

All you need to do is figure out exactly why you have those miserable muscle spasms.  I’ll help you.

Here are two of the most common causes of muscle knots in your back.

Knot #1.  Muscle strain.  This can be caused by Continue reading Getting Rid of Knots in Your Upper Back →

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Self Help, Upper Back Pain

Heat Or Ice For Upper Back Pain And Neck Pain?

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Should you use heat packs or cold packs for upper back pain?  Which helps upper back pain more?  Heat or cold?

The answer is:  It depends!

The rule of thumb is heat for muscular pain and ice or cold for nervy pain.

If your upper back pain feels more like muscle strain or muscular aches, heat is probably the way to go.  Muscles tend to respond well to heat.  You might also want to think about applying heat to your upper chest muscles to help them relax, too.

On the other hand, if you have Continue reading Heat Or Ice For Upper Back Pain And Neck Pain? →

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Upper Back Pain

What Causes Upper Back Pain In The Morning

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You woke up with pain in your upper back.  It may feel like a knot or a muscle spasm.  You aren’t happy.

Muscle knots in upper back
You can get rid of miserable muscle ‘knots’ in your upper back naturally!

Isn’t it truly amazing that we can hurt ourselves in our sleep?  I think so.

Sometimes it’s from something you did the previous day but maybe you just slept “crooked.”

Maybe you laid too long with an arm out in front as you slept on your side and that strained the muscle.

Or perhaps you slept with your neck tilted to one side or the other and that caused an unhappy scalene muscle in your neck. If a muscle  gets unhappy it can develop trigger points.

Trigger points are hyper-irritable places in muscles that refer pain elsewhere.

Trigger points in the scalene muscle can cause a knot or muscle pain in your upper back.  In fact, they do it all the time.

Sometimes this pain in your upper back could be Continue reading What Causes Upper Back Pain In The Morning →

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Self Help, Upper Back Pain

Using A Tennis Ball To Reduce Upper Back Muscle Pain

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Muscle “knots” in your upper back can go away.  In fact, you can get rid of your upper back muscle pain naturally!

Here’s a conversation I had with a reader who woke up with muscle pain in his upper back and neck.

The morning I woke up with the pain, It was literally unbearable. It faded (Over a month) into discomfort, then almost gone (without me doing anything). The pain seemed reminiscent of a muscle tear or muscle strain. It would come back as mild discomfort if Continue reading Using A Tennis Ball To Reduce Upper Back Muscle Pain →

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Upper Back Pain

Which Muscles Cause Upper Back Pain And How Can You Relax Them

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Which muscles cause upper back pain?  You might guess it’s the muscles at the tops and back of your shoulders but here’s the deal:  Most often they are just complaining.

The muscles that are actually to blame for your upper back pain are most often in the front of your body!  When the muscles in your chest, arms and abdomen get “tight” and short, they can cause upper back pain.

It turns out that the muscles in the front of your body are actually stronger than in the back.  So when they tighten up (like they do just because of how we use our arms) they can really Continue reading Which Muscles Cause Upper Back Pain And How Can You Relax Them →

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