Rhomboid muscle pain - 10 years with little relief

[Unemployed]

I have had chronic rhomboid muscle pain on the right side for 10 years, and have seen numerous MD's(MRI with no significant problem found), Chiropractors (Adjustments & pressure point message), Physical Therapists (waste of money) and a Neurologist that is currently performing acupuncture.  I self medicate with Ibuprofen, and sleep on an ice pack every night.  In addition, I lay on a baseball and roll over the rhomboid muscle while stretching to break up the spasms for some relief, the ball hits an area that feels like a rope that is in a horizontal position across the rhomboid. Pain radiates from the rhomboid up the right side of my neck, and down my right arm which includes the right shoulder.  Headaches are almost constant.
I will try anything at this point to resolve this issue; any help with this issue would be very much appreciated.

[AJ127]

I have been following this thread long before the post I made Jul 02, 2011.

Due to the dramatic improvement in my condition over the last few months, I thought I should report back here.

I did a fair bit of research on inflammation, and my understanding is that it is caused by a build up of acid in the blood. An acidic pH level of blood can be caused by a range of different things, such as stress and more commonly, the food we eat. Alcohol is also a big contributor.

One sign of acidic blood is a tendency to feel cold. I know that is certainly the case with me. Another sign of acidic blood in muscle inflammation at points of stress or exertion. Bacteria also thrives in acidity.

I have had a significant improvement in my rhomboid inflammation by cutting out the acidic foods, and alkalizing through a GREEN DRINK. A green drink is a powdered wheat grass, barley grass, spirulina. Tastes horrible, but when mixed with fruit juice is tolerable.

You want to avoid acidic foods like dairy, beef, chicken, fish, pork, peanuts, and drinks like coffee, tea, beer, spirits, orange juice, and substitute those for dried figs and green vegetables, as well as water, herbal tea, and your own freshly made vegetable juice from celery or other green vegetables.

I have done this and the improvement has been incredible. It had gotten to the point where I was contemplating on going on hardcore pain killer medication, but the change of diet and introduction of the green drink has worked wonders.

I'd highly recommend people go to the health food store and pick up some green drink. It will work wonders for you.

Try this website to determine how acidic or alkaline your diet is, and whether you need to make a change:

http://www.acidalkalinediet.com/Alkaline-Foods-Chart.htm

[Ehetleos]

Hi there! You have it all right!
The rhomboids are continous with the serratus anterior muscles of the lateral chest wall. Tension in one of the mentioned muscles will surely create problems in the other.
The serratus itself lies on the chest wall under the huge pectoralis major and the smaller pectoralis minor. The minor attaches to the scapula pulling it front and up while the rhomboids would pull the scapula back. The serratus would also pull the scapula front as in extending the arm to punch. Get the idea? Muscle groups working in opposite fashion. Get one of them overworked/extended/tensioned and the opposite guy would scream in pain sooner or later.
I too suffer from this condition. I can tell my pectoralis is too stiff, ditto the smaller coracobranchialis (also pulling the scapulla forward). Poor rhomboids are just gasping for air! Step one would then be to relax the front side of the body, then work on the back side relieving strain.
Just my 2 cents...

[ACDCfan]

I developed a similar problem after being rear ended. My entire upper back was in constant spasm. I could not lie down and headaches were intense. To make a long story short, I finally found an orthopedist who really understood spinal MRIs. He told me flat out I needed a cervical fusion (C4-C5) even though previous MDs had looked at the same MRI, either stating that the disc bulge was not responsible for my back pain or being equivocal about it. As soon as I woke up from the anesthesia, I could feel the back pain was gone. Don't give up. Find the right orthopedist or neurosurgeon.

[dinardoboy1]

man am  I  glad I found this web sight , I thought I ws the only one suffering from this dreadful pain  i ve been suffering from this pain close to 20 years ,  I tell other people, Dr s or who ever would listen but they don t get the pain we go through on a daily basis , i ve all types of treatments but nothing has helped , I ve stopped smoking stopped drinking i ve dropped weight but the pain still persist on a daily basis sometimes I get the spasm that go along with my pain and that really ***** , all i do is stretch by back all day hoping to get that 2 minute relief  , anyways  thanks for all the advice ,i guess the fight continues if anyone knows of other treatments or what has worked for them I would love to here it, @ this point  I ll try anyting   . Thanks again  

[Jessworks]

OVER DEVELOPED CHEST!!!!!
STOP STRETCHING YOUR BACK ENTIRELY
STRETCH YOUR CHEST INSTEAD.
START STRENGTHENING IT WITH WEIGHTS
I HAD THIS PROBLEM FOR 7 YEARS ON LEFT SIDE , DID EVERTHING PEOPLE DESCRIBED ABOVE. DIDNT WORK.
LAST YEAR MOVED TO RIGHT SIDE TOO AND I FLIPPED OUT. HAD TO TRY TO SLEEP UPRIGHT IN A CHAIR FOR MONTHS, PAIN WAS SO BAD LYING DOWN.  WAS ON EVERY PAIN KILLER, EVEN STARTED TO DRINK HEAVILY AND SMOKE WEED TO KNOCK ME OUT. READ ENDLESS ******** OVER ENDLESS SLEEPLESS NIGHTS ON INTERNET. SEEMS EVERYONE IS FOLLOWING EVERYONE ELSE.
EVENTUALLY GOT THE ANSWERS FROM THESE FORUMS BUT ONLY FROM NOT LISTENING TO THE MAJORITY AND GOING WITH THE ABOVE IDEAS SUGGESTED BY 2 OR 3 PEOPLE OUT OF A HUNDRED.
AS SCARY AS IT SOUNDS I STARTED TO DO BENT OVER ROWS SETS OF 2-4 , 20 REPS. AT THE SAME TIME I STOPPED ALL BACK STRETCHING, AND STARTED VIGOROUSLY STRETCHING MY CHEST.
IF YOU HAVE A ROUNDED BACK, OVER DEVELOPED OR EXTRA STRONG CHEST/WEAK BACK,  MY BELIEF IS STRETCHING OR MASSAGING YOUR BACK WILL MAKE THIS PROBLEM WORSE.
HOPE IM HELPING, IM NOT QUALIFIED IN AN HEALTH AREA JUST SO YOU KNOW. JUST GOT RID OF SEVEN YEARS OF HELL IN ABOUT 2 WEEKS. THIS WAS AROUND 6 MONTHS AGO NOW. I HAVE STARTED DOING ALL WEIGHTS AGAIN AND DO NOTICE VERY SMALL REMINDERS OF PAIN IF I WORK MY CHEST TO HARD AND MY BACK NOT ENOUGH.
IF I DO TWICE AS MUCH BACK EXERCISES AS CHEST AND NEVER DO POWER FOR CHEST (KEEP REPS HIGH) IM FINE.
HOPE THIS HELPS SOMEONE. THANKYOU FOR YOURS TO THE FEW THAT HELPED ME...you saved my live.

[Fishouttawater]

Hi,

Sorry to hear about your unending quest to find a solution. If I may suggest, having had a similar issue that lasted a couple of years - I finally went to see a sports massage therapist. It worked wonders. Turned out it wasn't actually the rohmboid that was the issue. It was more pectorial (chest wall) and the muscles along my right side ribs. She hit a couple points that caused burning hot pain that went clear to my toes, but it did the trick. I think I went for a total of 4 one hour sessions (one per week). I must advise you though - it will hurt when they are doing it. Take a bit of ibuprofen or tylenol before and put Voltaren cream on after. You will bruise, but that heals. The pain is worth the try. Hope this helps. I know how awful it can be - it can be triggered simply by sitting at a desk too long or playing on a computer.

Best of luck!