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?

[scorpio121]

ive been having problems with my upper back its painful and when i try to strech my back it hurts and its like my bones click and its giving pain to my left arm near my shoulder blades been like this for near over a month know can any one help me pls its depressing me.

[aml74]

If anyone of you finds a answer/solution to what all of you have been sharing, I would like to hear it.  Last night the pain in my shoulder, neck, arms, and hands was bad enough that i wasn't having success with pain control.  Finally late last night, some relief came from the pain meds I tried and i was able to sleep.  Tonight I am back to hurting.  I hate hurting since I have experienced it often enough that I am ready give up quicker now then before.  I am trying to decide if i want to go to the ER to see what they can do plus I want it to be seen by  medical people  so they can document it.  I am tired of being brushed off as the pain being just the way it is.

Ann

[midlifemom]

I was (am) having similar pain - left upper back near shoulder blade, traveling down left arm with numbness or pins and needles feeling in arm.  I don't necessarily notice it just when I'm breathing - it's pretty much constant and I'm always trying to find a position where it doesn't hurt.  Anyway, after doing some reading I had a hunch it had something to do with the cervical (neck) spine and a woman who recently had spine surgery referred me to a neurologist.  (She started with him, but when it became obvious she needed surgery, was referred to an orthopedic surgeon.)  She felt the good thing about starting with a neurologist is they aren't biased toward surgery.  I didn't realize neurologists are specialists in the spine as well as brain.  Anyway, long story short, I went, he sent me for an MRI and physical therapy and prescribed a muscle relaxer in addition to Naproxen.  The MRI showed I have cervical spondylosis, which is like arthritis of the spine, and there is a herniated disk pressing on a nerve root that goes to the places I'm having pain.  I'm still in the process of seeing if physical therapy will help - they give you exercises to strengthen the muscles around the joints so there will be less stress on the joints.  After seeing the Dr. and taking the meds, my pain slowly went away for a couple of weeks, but now it is back in full force after I went back to my weight lifting (big mistake, I guess).  My advice, go to a specialist - neurologist or orthopedist.  My Dr. didn't minimize my pain at all, thank goodness.

[JustineB]

Do any of you also get pain in the shoulder blade when you swallow food?

[Rgrafton]

OK, well I, as well, have pain in my right upper back, near my shoulder, kind of feels like my lungs when I'm BREATHING REAL HEAVY, while running.. This slows me down and does not allow me to push my self because the harder I am breathing the more it hurts. I never have pain other than then. Once I sit down an rest for a few minutes there is not pain, that is why I think in my case it has to do with my lungs contracting.

[Hurting_FLorida]

Wow, it' amazing to see how many people are expiriencing the same things. Yet no one ever really gets any answers. I'm not one for doctors and medicines. I prefer to try to "fix it myself". Although this one seems to be getting worse and worse. I have flare ups approx. four to five times a year when everything hurts. I have the "buble" feeling under my left  shoulder blade. Sometimes I can do neck rolls while moving the arm and shoulder and it "pops" with agonizing pain. But afterwards the pain is "all gone". But now I have developed the numbness in my shouldrer, arm and hand. I belive that I also have RA as my suster was diagnosed with RA a few years ago. I had my son in March of 2007 and in  the following year what I belive is RA has gotten ten times worse. All of the adds you see for the "treatments" give such a long list of sideeffcts, which to me sound worse than what I already have, I feel there is no use to go to a doctor to get it? I am currently researching the possibility of herbal/homeopathic remedies. Anyone have any sugesstions?