It seems like just this morning that I woke up with a “knot” between my spine and shoulder blade. In fact, it was just this morning. Sometimes when I sleep on my side that happens.
Side sleeping can cause muscle spasms or knots in your upper back like this: The shoulder you are sleeping on is rolled forward. The muscles between your shoulder blade and spine get pulled or stretched. They don’t like it so they go into a type of spasm or contraction. That is your muscle knot.
Here’s some quick self-help.
Tennis Ball Therapy to the rescue! Lay on your back and place a tennis ball or similar ball under your knot. Just lay on it for about 5 minutes. In about 5 minutes you will notice you don’t feel the painful knot or the tennis ball as much. That’s because your muscle knot is relaxing.
You may have to do this in more than one location.
You can use a tennis ball anywhere on your back. Just use it on the muscular parts, not on the bones.
If you have a ongoing muscle knot, the tennis ball technique may not help much. In that case, you need to relax or release ALL of the muscles that are pulling on and around your shoulder blade and spine. And that includes the muscles in the front of your chest and shoulder!
Here’s a tip that might help you avoid knots in your muscles from sleeping on your side:
Tuck a flat pillow or folded bath size towel under your ribs, between your arm pit and hip bone. That will keep you from sleeping in a “hammock” position. It will keep your spine more aligned while you sleep on your side.
When you understand the cause(s) of your knots you really can get rid of them and keep them from coming back. You can get rid of those miserable knots in your shoulder naturally. <– click to learn more about a natural program I put together just for you!
I have at least 4 knots in the shoulder area.
Been to therapy 25x. Knots haven’t budged.
Hope there is something I can do to get rid
of the annoying, distracting knots…Thanks
Hi Robert,
Knots in your back sure can be annoying and distracting! If you look at all of the articles here, you will probably find lots of things that can be causing your knots. Maybe the therapy hasn’t worked because it wasn’t addressing the causes of the knots. You can’t just blast away on a knot and expect it to relax. Sometimes you have to finesse it by figuring out why you have the knot–what is causing the knot.
1. Your nutrition can play a big part, too. Your body needs minerals and vitamins for your muscles to function their best and be pain-free.
2. Your posture needs to be assessed and may need corrections. This often requires a skilled massage therapist or muscle therapist to help you get your posture nice and balanced.
3. The muscles in the front of your body (chest, abdomen, arms and legs) can pull on your back and can be the cause of knots in your back. This happens when the front muscles are stronger, shorter and tighter than the back muscles. The poor muscles in the back go into a special type of contraction or knot as a way of complaining.
Wait! It just occurred to me–you said “therapy.” You might mean massage therapy rather than physical therapy? If that is so, the massage therapist should get off the knots and start looking for the other muscles that are causing the knots. Or you may simply have to find a new therapist who is skilled in releasing muscle knots (because not all people who went to massage school understand how bodies and muscles work.)
Robert, I hope you will find the help here that you need to get rid of those miserable knots in your back!
Kathryn
The Pain Relief Coach