Are you suffering from pain between shoulder blades or anyone from your family and friends? Some of you might be familiar with the pain as you might feel yourself or hear it from your surroundings. Anyone can suffer from this problem as you heard that Pain has no age bar. So what are the things that you must take care of when you detect the pain for the very first time? Can you take this pain casually, or do you need proper medical guidance? All these questions are covered in this article. Please read the entire article. So, without any delay, let’s start!!
What is a Shoulder Blade?
Before starting the article, let’s know about the shoulder blade in order to detect the pain correctly.
To your knowledge, shoulder blades are the large triangular bone that reclines on the upper back. It is known as Scapula in biology terms. Every shoulder blade is adjoined and supported by a multiplex system of muscles that helps the arms move while working together. Also, The shoulder has a broad range of movement.
What weakens the Scapula and causes the pain between the Shoulder blades?
If you are experiencing any kind of difficulty while moving your arm, that means the muscles are weakened or imbalanced due to some injury. Also, the injury can cause the reorientation of the scapula or shoulder blade either at rest or in motion. Any kind of reorientation of the shoulder blade can cause difficulty in arm’s motion. Mainly it include overhead activities and can cause your shoulder to become fragile. A slight orientation in the Scapula can be dangerous too and can cause injury if the alignment of the ball-and-socket is not maintained properly.
Causes of Pain between Shoulder Blade
Pain in the body tells you that something is wrong with it. So if you are experiencing any pain between the shoulder blade, then find the reason behind it. There are a lot of reasons that cause pain between the shoulder blades. Below is the list of the following:
image credit: Epainassist
- Muscle Strain
Muscle strain is the most common reason for the pain between shoulder blades. Muscles can be pulled when you start to exercise after a long time. Bad posture, mainly when you are standing or sitting for a very long time, can also cause muscle strain. Moreover, other activities like lifting heavy weights on your shoulder, twisting, which involve sports like badminton, tennis, golf, etc., and sleeping on the mattress in a nasty position or the mattress doesn’t provide you ample support to the shoulder also cause pain between shoulder blades.
- Arthritis
If you have special type of Arthritis which is known as spinal arthritis. Then it can also cause pain between the shoulder blades. Trembling in the ribs and neck may cause pain in the Scapula even if you are not feeling pain in the neck.
Any kind of physical stress or tension on your shoulder blade might result in interscapular pain. The pain can happen due to an accident or injury in the back. Moreover, slip disc can also cause the pain between shoulder blades,
- Trauma
The trauma condition happens with the people who involved in sports and some injury happens during their gamepley. Moreover, gymming activity which involves weight lifting also causes trauma. Due to any of the above situations, a person can face severe injuries like spine fractures, joint separation, and rotator cuff tears which can put force on the muscles creating tension between the shoulder blades and resulting in pain in interscapular
- Heart Attack
Different studies show that while having heart attacks, both men and women show different symptoms. Men usually feel pain in the chest, while the symptoms for women are not the usual ones. Before a heart attack, women feel interscapular pain which is usually painful and constant. Other symptoms of a heart attack include short breathing, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, vomiting, pain in the arms, and so on.
- Poor body Stance
Poor body stance is also a very common cause for pain not only in the shoulder blade but also for any body part, which causes tightening of some of the muscles resulting in the pain. Sitting in a bad pose for a long period of time can cause reorientation of the spine, which gradually leads to pain between the shoulder blades. Moreover, doing activity in the wrong manner can also contribute to the same result. Other activities like bending the back and leaning the head on one side or sitting to a single side while working or reading something on your phone can reduce the strength of the muscles and put pressure on them, which can lead to pain in the upper back if this goes on for a long time.
- Slipped Disc
Slipped Disc or cervical herniated is the condition in which the splinter of the nucleus or the inner layer is pushed outward due to a break in the annulus or outer layer. This condition can cause pain in the upper body and neck. You can feel the pain that is sharp and dull in your neck and in your interscapular area, which can also slip down to your arms, fingers, and hand. The symptoms for the same include numbness, and some of the patients feel cramps due to the contraction of muscles.
- Osteoporosis
It can also be the reason for pain between shoulder blades. Osteoporosis is the condition due to which bones become weak and delicate. It results in fracture commonly in the spine, hip, and wrist even due to the mild pressure by coughing or bending over.
- Displaced Rib
This condition in which the ribs are dislocated can also cause pain between the shoulder blades. As in this condition, a rib may emerge or become dislocated after the continuous strain on it. Continuos strain results in pain, and sometimes it becomes severe too, causing problems in deep breathing.
- Improper techniques for weight lifting
If you are lifting weight either in your house or in a gym, improper technique can cause injury or pain between your shoulder blades. This is a very common problem that can be faced by anyone in our lifetime at least once. Sometimes we have to lift furniture or slide the almirah from its place in our home, or anything heavy above the head can stretch the muscles that leave you in injury or pain. The pain can be bearable but do not take it easy as the slight pain can cause even serious issues.
- Mental stress
If a lot of unnecessary thoughts run in your mind for a long time, then it causes stress which creates tension in the muscles. The muscles usually create such strain in the common area is the shoulder and neck. It causes headaches if the shoulder muscles are stretched for a long time.
- Crookedness
It is commonly known as Scoliosis, which is defined as the lateral curvature in the spine usually diagnosed in a young generation. This can become severe when you grow if the angle of curvature is more than 10 degrees, as shown in the x-ray reports.
Note: There are other symptoms that can cause pain between shoulder blades. These symptoms can differ for different people, and also the source can be different too.
image credit: Quora
How to relieve the pain between shoulder blades?
After knowing the most common symptoms of the pain, you must be thinking about how to get rid of the pain? Here are the ways by which you can ease the pain.
- Use ice pack therapy or hot water bag therapy.
Using an ice pack or hot water bag on the infected area can relieve the pain. However, the procedures to do both the therapies are different. For doing hot water bag therapy, you can apply only for 15 to 20 minutes for not repeating in 2 hours. And for cold therapy, use an ice pack or ice wrapped in cloth for 10-20 minutes and do not exceed it more than one time in 2 hours. Try both therapies in order to know which suits you best.
- Take pain killer
You can also take pain killer drugs in order to ease the pain between shoulder blades. You can easily buy some of the drugs from your nearby pharmacist. The drugs such as aspirin, Aleve, Naproxen, Motrin, Naprosyn, etc., are used to reduce the inflammation in the body. Moreover, other medications like Tylenol acetaminophen, which work by sending the altered signals to the brain. However, do not to take such medication very easily as intake of these can be risky and create other problems also.
- Rest Properly
When you feel strain in your muscles due to excessive exercise, household chores, etc., then rest for one or two days in order to settle down the pain. Moreover, if you are not resting, then avoid doing excessive exercise until you can feel the ease in your pain. Sometimes, the pain becomes almost permanent for the people who sit in front of the desk for a prolonged period. So, take breaks in between your work to ease the strain from your muscles.
- Yoga
Yoga can also help you to relieve the pain if done in a proper manner or under guidance. There are some exercises and asanas whose continuous practice can help you to get rid of the pain. Moreover, yoga is good for your whole body too. It gradually helps you increase your body’s stretchability and make it more flexible.
Preventions to take on a daily basis
When you notice the pain for the very first time, then don’t take it casually. If you are not consulting a doctor for the condition, then take at least some preventive measures on a daily basis in order to ease the pain.
- Always sit in a proper posture, maintain the correct posture, and avoid lifting heavy objects.
- Try to keep the upper back and shoulder muscles strong.
- People who practice sitting should take breaks and sit on comfortable chairs to stop the pain. It would be best if you tried to sit in a straight back position or without hunching forward.
- Do regular exercise under guidance to maintain weight, which also helps you to reduce the pain in your back.
- yoga and some stretching also ease the tension of the muscles created due to stress.
- Do not take any pain killer medicine until advised by the doctor.
When to consult a doctor?
If you have not taken any medical help and are doing preventive measures, then it can also work for you. However, It is always advisable to get medical help at an early stage. Moreover, if you see swelling or redness on your shoulder, then immediately go for professional help. Also, These are some of the questions that your profession can ask you.
- How did the pain start?
- For how long the pain exists?
- If the pain starts gradually or you feel it suddenly
- If there is any swelling on your shoulder
- Any past injury, trauma
- Any other pain like chest pain, jaw pain, subtle weight loss, short breathing, etc
- The intensity of the pain
- How you feel the pain like sharp, inflammatory, stabbed.
- Smoke frequently or ever did
- Medical history of yours and your family
- Cause of the pain like due to exercise or weight lifting etc.
Summary: Pain between shoulder blades
I hope you read the entire article on pain between shoulder blades and find it useful and informative. The article covers the most common causes and preventive measures that people faces. Please note this is solely for educational purposes. Save the page for more updates on it, and please bookmark us for more articles.
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