Upper back pain with more pain when swallowing

[JustineB]

I am a hairstylist, age 41 and female. I have been doing hair 23 years, but recently purchased the salon I have been working at and my workload tripled.

Anyway....my upper back is always in pain from keeping my arms elevated when cutting hair and also using a very heavy blowdryer in my left hand.  
Recently (about a month ago) my neck began to do a weird snap, crackle, pop as I turned my head slowly, kind of like if you were checking traffic before pulling out, or just turning your head to talk to someone etc. It would only do it maybe a couple times a day, or skip a couple days and then happen again.  Shortly after that I began to expericence some neck pain, and upper back pain.

Within a few days of that, I began to feel pain in that region (upper back by shoulder blades) when I swallow food. As the food passes that area where my back hurts it sort of intensifies that pain I already felt. I tried to blow it off thinking it was a pulled muscle, that I had slept wrong, or it was from my new hairdryer that weighs a ton. I kept waiting for it to stop, but it still has not gone away.  I then began to worry and looking up stuff on the internet. All of the people I talk to whether friends, family, or clients have never heard upper back pain and then pain in back when swallowing.
So if any of you have had this or have known someone who had this I would be interested in hearing from you. I went to Urgent Care and they took a Chest X-ray and and EKG and were normal.   So it's not my lungs, chest or heart. I think it has something to do with my neck popping and then the pain I already have in my shoulder area all the time.
Does anyone know if this could be a nerve?

Please send me a private message or comments here. thank you! JB

[omair]

did u get the answer?
i have the same issue .
gone through with CT  scan chest but no solution

[Brookvsbigmom]

Brothers and sisters, same problem here. I drank baking soda every evening with warm water and honey, and took some ayurvedic medicine. I got pain relief in 4 days. Try baking soda.

[Brookvsbigmom]

Pain is not completely gone though. But its better. All the best.

[Brookvsbigmom]

I mean now I feel better than before. Have a nice day.

[ZipRH]

Hi, I have the exact same problem. When I swallow, it hurts going down on my right upper back. Where my right shoulder blade is. It's been going on for the last three days. But, I've been having problems with that area for two years now. Ever since my ex-husband tore my arm out of socket. My pain always seems to come and go. The pain will be there for two months, then go for about two to three months. But, I never had any pain when swallowing. It was always just pain when I laid a certain way, moved my arm wrong, or picked up something a little too heavy. I've been to the doctor for it and she would always prescribe pain pills. To her, it sounded like my arm healed wrong, after being pulled out of socket. And, because of that, it was causing a lot of inflammation build ups. I told my Gynecologist about it, because it was causing some minor right underarm and right side of right breast pain. And, she told you me to take four ibuprofen, three times a day, for four days and it cleared it up rather fast. But, now I have this swallowing thing and it kind of freaked me out. Until I read about how everyone else here, has the same problem. And, it eased my uneasiness. Then it dawned on me, this new swallowing   symptom, my arm, and shoulder blade pain all started, after holding my son on my shoulders, while I read to him. I shouldn't have done that, because he is four and weighs 42lbs, but I did. When he was sitting on my shoulders. It felt like my right arm gave out and my son had to get down immediately. It just couldn't hold anything. The next morning my arm was in so much pain and the swallowing thing started after my first bite of breakfast. I guess it's back to Ibuprofen for four days.

[Countryboythe1]

I'm going through the same pain in my shoulder area and the doctor prescribed me meds but none of it helps.It almost seems like doctors can't figure it out and not seeing any answers of a solution is resulting in being very worried of the possibility there is something not good.

[RoseS123456]

I had Linx surgery, for gerd, and hiatal hernia surgery earlier this week. Since then I have had terrible pain in my left shoulder when I swallow. It is different from the pain that they tell you to expect in your shoulders from gas during surgery. Checking the Internet, I found info on the phrenic nerves in the diaphragm. If the diaphragm is irritated, it can cause referred pain in the shoulder and upper back. So my pain is probably from the hernia repair where the diaphragm is irritated, especially when the diaphragm moves during eating. I will check with my doctor on this, of course!. People on this forum did not have surgery, like I did, but it makes me wonder if irritation to the diaphragm, such as from having a hiatal hernia, or some other cause, is giving you shoulder pain when swallowing.  The information that I found most useful was from an Anatomy notes blogspot on referred pain, from 2006. I am writing this because I hope that this information will help someone here.

[Tfixon]

Hoping this helps people, I want to leave a possible answer from our recent experience. Saturday morning my husband, who is 31 and overall very healthy, woke up with pain behind his right shoulder that hurt terribly when he swallowed, breathed deeply, etc. He ignored it at first because he thought it was part of an arm/shoulder issue he had been experiencing for a year and treating with physical therapy. Though the pain was terrible and the swallowing aspect different, he wanted to try to wait it out till Monday to see his GP. He had a slight temperature that night too. By Sunday evening his temperature rose to 100.3 which was enough to make us consider the pain might be caused by an infection, so we finally went to the ER. The doctor was concerned by the referred pain when swallowing, and he ordered an X-ray and CT scan. The X-ray didn't reveal anything, but the CT scan showed an abscess. The doctor called it a retro-tracheal abscess, which isn't even a thing because these things don't usually happen in this spot. More common is a retropharyngeal abscess which can usually be traced back to some sort of trauma (food getting stuck in the throat or something). In my husband's case, we have no idea what caused it. They admitted him and brought in 2 specialists because of the odd placement (they were not sure if it should go to an ENT or Cardio thoracic doctor). Long story short, the doctors seemed to have differing opinions about everything: object trauma vs. viral infection, new condition vs. existent latent condition (the cardio surgeon believed the year of shoulder pain might be related) and whether to treat with surgery or antibiotics. In the end, the ENT decided to try antibiotics for a few weeks with surgery as the next step if it doesn't clear. He was released after 3 days and that is all we know for now.
If you take anything from this story though it should be this: back pain while swallowing is NOT normal. It is one of those times you should make the ER visit because you likely need a CT which you cannot get at your doctors office or urgent care. Any of the possible complications that cause this referred pain will not go away on its own, and it's better not wait.

[TumbleGymnast]

I am 12 years old going on 13 in 3 weeks. I am a gymnast and tumble 3 hours 4 days a week. My back pain hurts a lot when I jump all of a sudden and it used to just be my lower pack and now it's my whole back after today. It hurts when I swallow around in the middle of my back... What should I do? It hurts worse after today's practice.