Pain in shoulder/shoulder blade/upper back

[hatz09]

Hello. I've been having very bad pain in my upper back. The pain reaches from just beneath my left shoulder blade to the top of my shoulder, and I've also felt some pains in my left arm, although that could be unrelated. I've been experiencing this about four years, and sometimes it's in my right shoulder blade. It will hurts for a couple of weeks and then be gone. I've had an x-ray done about three years ago and I went to physical therapy. It feels better when I lay down on that side, but it's awful when I'm up moving around, especially if I lift things with either arm or play piano.

I don't having the best posture in the world, and I carry a backpack to school, but it isn't very heavy. I'm at a loss at what could be the cause. The pain comes in waves. Sometimes I don't hardly feel it at all, and then it will be stabbing at me, very sharp, and other times it's just a dull pain. Also every once in awhile I'll move my arm and feel a weird series of pops along my shoulder and neck, almost ticklish. Hard to explain. But that's basically the gist of it. I'm 19 years old, very young to be having back trouble. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[hatz09]

Thanks for your response.I guess I need to go back to a doctor, maybe a different one, and see what he says. I hope it's nothing serious. Thanks again!

[S. Kaul, MD]

Hi there!

Well, without a detailed clinical evaluation it would be difficult to determine the cause of your symptoms. Likely possibilities include postural issues, neuro-muscular causes such as muscle sprain, nerve impingement, injuries to muscles/ ligaments, inflammations, spinal causes such as degeneration, micronutrient deficiencies, referred pain from other regions etc. I would suggest getting this evaluated by an orthopedician for an accurate diagnosis and appropriate management. Meanwhile you could take some tylenol/ OTC NSAIDS and see if it seems to help.
Hope this is helpful.

Take care!