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 I would help move a table or something like that.

Thank you so much for the advice. Over the past two days, I’ve been essentially “Releasing” a lot of tension all over my back and neck. I’ve been making sure that, If it felt like there was a knot there, I hit it with tennis ball therapy. I’ve noticed that since I did that, I’ve felt a lot less pressure in my back, and I seem to have loosened up. I’ve also noticed that I’ve had a sore feeling all over my back. It seems to be a good sore, like the feeling I get after working my back at the gym.

It feels a bit tender, and a good sore. I know that deep tissue massages sometimes leave you sore for a day or two because you are not used to that level of pressure on muscle tissue. Is this normal and should I take this as a good sign for tennis ball therapy??

Again, thanks so much!

Here’s my response:

You are welcome. And Yay!!! You hit the nail on the head! Good job! Your muscles are not used to this new pressure or position and you are releasing them effectively.

Thank you for sharing your success. And remember, now it’s time to start stretching the muscles in the front of your body, too, so you will be well balanced muscularly.

How to use a tennis ball or similar ball to get rid of your back pain:

Ideally, lie on the floor.  A bed has too much softness and the therapy ball loses some of the effectiveness.  Lie on your back.  Place the ball under the most tender place on your back.  (NOT on bones.)

Just lie on that tender spot for about 5 minutes.  You’ll notice that you start to feel it less.  Then move on to the next tender spot and, again, just lie there.

Sometimes you might feel it’s more effective to roll a bit on the ball.  That’s fine if you want to “massage” an area of muscle or “roll it out.”

The tennis ball therapy trick will only work on certain types of upper back muscle knots.  If you woke with it today or yesterday, it might work.

If you’ve had it for a long time, you’ll probably just end up feeling sore with no relief.  In that case, you have to figure out what’s causing your upper back pain and get rid of those causes.

Since I’m always glad to help you get rid of your back pain, I’ve created a simple, easy to use, self-help program to get rid of your miserable knots in your upper back–forever!  Click here to discover more.

I’m Kathryn Merrow, The Pain Relief Coach.