What’s the most common cause of upper back pain?  Is it herniated disks?

Is it neck bones that are out of place?  Is it your neighbors or your job?

Not likely any of those.  It’s muscles!  (Well, maybe your job is contributing, too.)

A recent commenter said the knots in her upper back are caused by a herniated disk.  But that’s taking things out of sequence.  (And that‘s really, really common in the medical field.)

You see, disks cannot move on their own.  Neither can bones.  So how do they move?

You got it:  Muscles!  Muscles move bones and disks.  That’s their job.

So how do disks get herniated?  (We will assume there is not a whiplash or other serious tossing-around injury.)

When muscles get out of balance they don’t hold the bones in a neutral position anymore.  Instead the muscles pull or push the bones and disks out of alignment.  They can actually push a disk out of place!

“Out of balance” means muscles on one side of your neck or back are too short or tight.  On the other side they are too loose or weak.

This means pain in your upper back and neck.

What’s the solution?

In a nutshell, strengthen the muscles on the back side of your body.  Stretch and lengthen the muscles on the front side.

And don’t forget you also have muscles on the sides of your body.  They probably need lengthening and stretching, too!

Other things such as nutrition can also play a big part in how happy your muscles are.  If you eat healthy and exercise and get plenty of water into your body your muscles will be nicer to you in return.

And posture plays a huge role in upper back pain.  I created a self-help program for upper back pain and knots and in that program I actually have a video that will help you get straighter and stronger in a simple, easy way.

If you’d like to know more about the upper back pain relief program that addresses ALL of these, please click here:  www.KnotsInYourBack.com