What is the cause of mid-back pain?
While there are many different reasons that pain may persist between the shoulder blades, one of the most common culprits is poor posture. Often referred to as stooped posture, rounded shoulder, or lower crossed syndrome, mid-back pain due to poor posture tends to be persistent, aching, slowly progressing, yet mostly functional. If you’re not one of the few people out there mindful of your posture, it is very likely you are losing the battle to gravity. This loosing battle often forces the painful tissue to undergo tension, something we call ischemia, and begins a cycle of minor tissue inflammation. This cycle of mid-back pain and inflammation will often persist until some easy but necessary steps are taken.
How do I begin to address poor posture related to mid-back pain?
Generally speaking, it is a matter of releasing tension, achieving good mobility, and finding balance and strength against the force of gravity.
– Releasing tension can be achieved through stretching and movement over a long period of time, but generally requires some level of professional intervention. Bodywork and clinical massage is a wonderful intervention to releasing tension. Other interventions may include acupuncture, chiropractic, and dry needling.
– Achieving mobility is a far longer project that typical requires you to pursue at home projects that support the therapy you are receiving. While we are not the only ones, Body Heal is principled on giving homework to every client we see for this very reason. Good mobility practices reduce long term tension and prevents soft tissue injuries.
– Balance around the joint requires some sort of strength practice, including functional exercise, yoga, Pilates, or CrossFit, just to name few. Whatever your choice, engaging in activities that appropriately challenge and load the system is critical.
Getting help with mid-back pain can be a simple process, until it is not! Over time, these presentations can lead to bigger issues that are far more complicated. If you are experiencing mid-back pain, let us help guide you to the relief you are looking for! You can begin to feel great relief almost immediately from mid-back pain after just your first session of bodywork. Just visit www.bodyhealtherapy.com to see about booking a session and start feeling relief right away.
