Do you know what causes the “knots” or muscle spasms in your upper back and shoulders? Would you be surprised if I told you it is most often muscles?

But why do muscles become “knotted”?

A knot is a contraction or spasm in a muscle.

The most common cause is over-work. That means that you are over-working some of your muscles while others don’t get used enough.

When you were a child, you used all of your 600+ muscles. Then you grew up. As adults, most of use use fewer than 100 muscles on a daily basis. Not good.

Not good at all.

>>Some of your muscles are getting short from being used all the time.

>>Some are getting stretched because they aren’t used enough. That’s another common cause of muscle knots.  They get weak and cannot hold their own against the stronger, shorter muscles that are usually on the front of your body.

To protect themselves when they are being stretched too far muscles can go into a contraction (that means they get short, too, but it is a different type of contraction than the muscles that you use all the time.) That protects the stretched, weak muscles  from injury (being ripped) but it gives you a “pain in the back.”

Most pain of this sort happens in the back near the spine or on the outer side of the back under the arm. Or both.

It’s a clue.  Pain is always a clue.

It means that your muscles are unhappy about something.

And when your muscles are unhappy your job is to figure out why and make a correction.  You might even have to make several corrections to get rid of your “knotty” problem.

Knots in your back and shoulders can come from poor posture.

If you are collapsing forward or have a “forward head” it puts a lot of pressure on the muscles of your upper back.  They get seriously strained.  A rounded upper back causes strain.

Muscle knots can also come from having weak back muscles.

I suspect that carrying babies or other heavy things on your hip causes lots of knots in backs. And of course there are other causes.  Even using a computer mouse in an incorrect position can be a cause.

The good news is that most of the causes of those miserable knots involve muscles and muscles are treatable!  <– click for more.

I’m Kathryn Merrow, The Pain Relief Coach, and I look forward to helping you get rid of the muscle pain in your upper back naturally.