Sharp pain in upper back and left shoulder, pain increase upon breathing.

[EcoFeral]

I have been having a sharp burning pain in my upper back mostly on the left side by the shoulder blade.  At times my neck and left arm are effected too. The pain is present upon rising and lasts throughout the day. I am concous of my posture and do not believe it to be the cause. The pain worsens if i am carring anything at arms lengths or even if i am carring a light bag over either of my shoulders.  I have tried; hot, cold, advil and exercise but i haven't seen any releif for the past 5 months. The only thing i think that could have caused the pain is when i moved about 5 months ago.  There was a great deal of lifting and stress. I am 26 years old and feel like this pain is limiting my ability to go about my daily task. Any suggestions please?

[KevinM24]

i've been having a pain in my neck right at the tip of the spine and when i lift my arms up it hurts my left shoulder blade and i have to go and play football tom and i went head to head and i think thats whats hurt it i need to know if i should play tom or just watch. Im only 12 yearsold and i need to play i need to get this past me

[Laveque]

hello my friend,

hope you get better soon.

what is the problem you have?
is it only backpain or does your shoulderblade area hurt while swallowing anythıng?

[tiredofbeingsick11111]

I have had this problem for many many years, I was treated by a doctor once, for a parisite, all the pain and insomnia were gone in 3 days. I got together with my ex and months later the symptoms were back. I have had test for parisites and has been negative, but I read that testing for parisites is a very small chance of detecting it and doctors won't even listen to what I have to say. I had it for about 8 yrs was treated and felt better than I had in 8 yrs then, got the same symptoms months later. now its been 15 yrs and Docs dont listen.

[PrincessCLane]

Hello, I'm having a severe constant pain in my left shoulder/neck and half way down my back. I've had neck trouble for about 5 years, they say I have two pinched nerves, Monday night my pain got so bad when I laughed I cried it hurt so bad so I went to the ER. And they weren't much help, xrays didn't show anything but they suspected pluricy, but herein Tuesday I couldn't bare the pain and went to  my doctor and he thinks it's a pulled muslce or spasm.. I've pulled muscles but never an arm or back, is a pull muscle very painful like this or do I need to have an MRI. I'm 19 btw and its really affectting my college and work life. Any suggestions?

[Miller74]

I have been having severe pain in my left shoulder that radiates to my neck and down my left arm....at times my fingers get tingly like my hand is asleep but then goes away..but the pain is non-stop and getting worse...I have tried icy-hot and heat and lidocane patches and of course aleve but nothing seems to help...my husband is getting frustrated with me and I just dont know what to do anymore...I dont have insurance and im just lost on anything else to do..does anyone have any suggestions? Please and ty for your time and reading this!

[miriam_e]

Some years ago I had the worst pain I've ever experienced in my neck and right arm. The pain was amazingly intense and made my life hell because it also made it difficult to sleep. Codeine painkillers had absolutely no effect.

All my friends told me to go to a chiropractor or osteopath, but I've always seen them as useless, so I eventually went to a doctor. It was lucky I did because he immediately referred me to a neurosugeon, who, after an examination told me that the disk between two of my neck vertebrae in my spine had been damaged and that if I'd gone to a chiropractor or osteopath I would probably have permanently lost the use of my right arm, which would have been disastrous as I'm right-handed. He put me into hospital where he operated on my neck to widen the passage for the nerve coming out of my spine for my arm. The aftermath of the surgery itself was almost as painful as the the damage being fixed, but it worked immediately. I no longer had the problem, and the surgery quickly healed. I have never had the problem again.

Some time later I realised that all this had happened not long after a minor car accident where another car ran into the back of my car. Mine was an old car and didn't have head-rests. That was how my neck had been injured: "whiplash". I also realised that it was inflamation of the area around the nerve exit from my neck that was causing the problem in constricting my nerve. I had taken heavy-duty painkillers for the unbelievably intense pain, but if, in the early stages, I'd used aspirin instead, it might have taken down the swelling and stopped the pressure on my nerve, removing the pain.

Cartilage repairs very slowly, so I would have had to be very careful for weeks, probably months, to make sure I did nothing that would further tear the disk, while making sure I still got enough gentle exercise to retain mobility. However I might have been able to fix the whole thing without surgery if I'd had the knowledge and forethought. Of course it is hard to see this at the time, and after I'd let it go too long probably nothing except surgery could fix the physical damage and I would have ended up with a partially paralysed arm. I'm no fan of surgery, but it did save my arm.