You know the feeling. A pinch between the shoulder blades. It Simply tilting your head all the way back is painful. And that crick in your neck when you turn your head, ouch!
Whether you sit all day at a desk working on a computer or use your neck and shoulders all day like a hair stylist, an upper back pinch is an increasingly common – and difficult to eliminate – back pain complaint.
Almost universally, the pinch you feel between your shoulder blades is the result of long term postural dysfunctions. Put simply, you’ve held your head, neck, and shoulders in a poor postural position long enough that you’ve created muscle imbalances.
Muscle imbalances are caused when some muscles become overdeveloped and tight while opposing muscles are weakened and stretched out of their normal position. That pinching feeling between your shoulder blades is your body letting you know there’s a problem. Left long enough, muscle imbalances and the resulting postural dysfunctions can lead to long-term health consequences such as a herniated disc.
Long-term correction requires going to the source of the problem. Muscle balance therapy is an effective treatment for the upper back and neck pain resulting from muscle imbalances by stretching only the tight muscles and exercising only the weakened muscles to restore balance.
While you work on correcting the muscle imbalances causing the pinch you can try these other tips to ease the severity of your neck and upper back pain symptoms:
- Take regular stretch breaks – try shoulder shrugs, raising your shoulders towards your ears to create a slight tension in your neck and shoulders and hold for 3-5 seconds; relax and repeat
- Rub out knotted muscles and trigger points
- Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated (avoid coffee, tea, and other caffeinated beverages)
- Use a natural anti-inflammatory in place of ibuprofen or other dangerous pain medicines