7 Reasons for Pain under the Shoulder Blade
Pain near or under the blade of your shoulder is a cause of huge distress. Since the shoulder blade is responsible for your arm movement, pain in the region can hamper your day to day activities. In addition to limiting the arm movement the pain can become unbearable if you ignore it. The sharp pangs of burning get worse with time and can elevate into constant ache across the upper body and the shoulder.
While the reasons for the pain may vary on case to case basis, we have compiled a list of what we believe are the 7 main reasons why people suffer from chronic pain.
Poor Lifting Technique
Lifting the weight above your head without proper technique is one of the main reasons for pain in this region. Since the shoulder and the upper back bears the brunt of the load when lifting weight they are the most susceptible to injury.
Health experts and gym instructors state that lifting an object that is extremely heavy or holding a weight away from the body can cause pain in the region. Improper lifting technique can misalign the spine resulting in an undue pressure on the back.
On the other hand, lifting objects that are heavy for your weight category can sprain the ligaments and injure the spine or shoulder joint. This ends up referring pain near or under this region.
Improper Posture
This is one of the main reasons for pain in this area. Prolonged hours of intense work means that many people often ignore the poor posture they maintain during the office hours.
According to research sitting in a poor posture for long hours can result in unhealthy structural change of the spine. This eventually leads to pain. Hunching the back or keeping your head down when working behind a desk can weaken your muscles and place undue pressure on ligaments, spinal discs and muscles. This posture imbalance can also result in pain in the upper back.
Overuse
Sometimes our bodies are not used to exertion. Lack of regular exercise reduces the body’s temperament of bearing heavy weights. This is why medical experts consider overdose of activity another reason for this pain.
Helping a friend move the furniture, painting a wall or playing in a football league during the weekends can have its toll on the body. The body of an office working professional wilts under intense pressure causing continuous pain.
The scapulothoracic is another example of the body becoming painful and inflamed due to injury or overuse.
Dislocated Rib
This is an uncommon reason and is a result of excessive strain. A rib in this effort pops out of place and becomes misaligned. Sharp pain develops near the shoulder blade and can often times also result in difficulty in breathing. In cases such as this it is imperative to consult your doctor and take rest immediately.
Herniated Disc
Herniated Disc happens when the outer exterior layer of the disc tears up to expose the inner layer which starts leaking outwards. This is a dangerous condition that can often lead to unbearable pain. The herniation of the disc can also inflame the nerve root nearby which ends up radiating the pain below to the shoulder, arm and the hand.
Herniation of the disc in the lower cervical spine region, however, radiates pain to this area. Although disc herniation in the thoracic spine is very rare today it can lead to pain in the shoulder region.
Compression Fracture
A compression fracture occurs when the vertebral bone compresses and weakens resulting in back pain that is not sustained and emerges or disappears at different times of the day. This is the kind of pain that is extremely sensitive to touch and gets better with rest. Osteoporosis in older results is the main reason for common compression fracture.
Osteoporosis is most commonly found in women over the age of 50. The illness thins the bones making them weak and brittle. The thinning bones collapse under normal activity resulting in a spinal fracture if ignored.
The dangers of osteoporosis are the main reason why compression fractures hurt the most. Not tending to the fractures can result in a great deal of pain and ends up altering the strength and shape of the spine.
Heart Conditions
Another reason for pain is the presence of heart conditions. For instance life threatening conditions that are a result of tear in the largest artery can cause intense pain which may move near or under the blade of the shoulder.
A heart attack may also come as a pain in the upper back or close to the shoulder blade. This is especially common in women.
The list of possible reasons for the pain is never ending. However, hopefully with this list you will get an idea of where the pain begins and how it leads to continuous hurt in the shoulder blade region.
Back or shoulder pain usually lingers on a few weeks and it ends up hampering your daily routine. If you suffer from pain that is severe and it is accompanied by other red flag symptoms which include weakness, nausea, tingling and headache you need to look for medical attention immediately.
Often time’s people suffering from shoulder pain ignore the symptoms and think it will heal with time. This is not true, the pain never subsides, and instead it intensifies to become something harmful and dangerous that you need to take care of.
You can take various steps to relieve your body of the pain under the shoulder blade. Here are some measures that will do wonders to your aching shoulder blade and will relieve you of the horrible pain.
- Resting the upper back occasionally from all sorts of activity
- Taking over the counter medicines
- Regular visits to a healthcare provider
- Massaging out the pain
- Applying heat or ice over the injured area
These are some steps that you can take to counter the pain. Remember you may have to use a trial and error method to find out which one truly works.