A difficult period in life comes for a person when his back often begins to hurt. It is not easy to bring discomfort and it causes a lot of inconvenience, but it can also disturb a person for a long time.
With the modern pace of life, people often neglect their health, referring to the lack of time. People try not to ask the question: why does the back hurt at the shoulder blades?
They prefer not to waste precious time going to the clinic and seek treatment at home, not suspecting that this signal could be a symptom of the presence of serious or even dangerous diseases.
Main reasons
Why can there be a dull ache between the shoulder blades? Symptoms of back pain in many people are associated with various mechanical spinal injuries, pinched nerves, or muscle strains.
It should be borne in mind that the pain syndrome can be triggered by pathologies of the organs of the chest.
The causes of back pain between the shoulder blades can be conditionally divided into three categories:
- Spinal diseases;
- diseases of internal organs;
- Other factors.
It should be clearly and clearly understood that pain is a symptom and not an independent disease. Before you start using the drugs available in your home medicine cabinet, you need to know the reason: why does it hurt your back between the shoulder blades?
To do this, you need to go to a medical institution, consult a doctor and describe in detail the symptoms, the time of their appearance and possible provoking factors: injuries, work activities, etc.
This information should help specialists determine the direction of the examination and make a diagnosis.
Inaccurate or inappropriate diagnosis can be detrimental to human health. Therapy can be prescribed, which will not bring a positive effect and will lead to the loss of valuable time in dealing with the main cause of pain.
It is important that a person himself understands the causes of pain and knows the possible list of pathologies that cause it.
muscle fatigue
Spasm or overstrain of muscle tissue does not belong to pathologies, but rather is a symptom of excessive physiological stress, or vice versa, its absence.
According to experts, back pain in the area of the shoulder blades is often experienced by patients whose professional activities are associated with prolonged static muscle tension.
The risk group includes, first of all, people of the following specialties:
- cashiers;
- office workers;
- Programmers
- Drivers, etc. . .
However, doctors say that a person's professional activity is not always the main cause of this symptom. In many cases, when examining patients who complained of pain in the region of the shoulder blades, most of them had dysplasia.
Hereditary pathology, characterized by a defect in fibrous structures due to insufficient production of collagen - a substance responsible for the strength and elasticity of connective tissue.
Because of this, muscle fibers and ligaments are simply unable to withstand prolonged physiological stress.
injuries
Injury is perhaps the most obvious factor that causes back pain in the shoulder blade area. Different types of hematomas, fractures, sprains that occur on the back as a result of mechanical damage are necessarily accompanied by severe pain syndrome.
Spinal injuries can pose a real threat to human health. Displacement of the vertebral discs or violation of the spinal cord can cause complete or partial tenderness of the limbs, limitation of motor functions and, in special situations, complete paralysis.
If the spine between the shoulder blades hurts for a long time due to a mechanical injury as a result of an emergency, you should immediately consult a doctor, even if the injury seems minor.
Any bruise or unsuccessful landing at height can damage spinal discs, which can only be diagnosed with the help of special equipment.
Only a specialist after a visual examination and an additional X-ray, magnetic resonance or computed tomography examination can judge the severity of the injury and prescribe appropriate treatment.
Intercostal neuralgia
The second name of this disease is thoracalgia. A disease that practically does not develop in children, but affects older people due to age-related changes, bruising and hypothermia.
It is manifested by sharp, aching pain symptoms in the rib area. Back pain in the shoulder blades is also a concomitant symptom, often occurring and intensifying at the time of a change in body position.
Patients may hear complaints of pain when breathing, especially during sudden inspiration or expiration.
Attention! Back pain between the shoulder blades and other symptoms similar to neuralgia can be a sign that the patient has heart pathologies. It is important to recognize the problem in a timely manner and take appropriate action - this will save valuable time and possibly save the patient's life.
The main factor that causes stabbing pain in the upper back with this disease is pinching or compression of the nerve roots.
This disease develops against the background of many factors: bruises, osteochondrosis, excessive physiological stress, metabolic disorders, stress, colds.
Muscle spasms or, on the contrary, excessive muscle tone of the extensors of the back, shoulders and shoulder blades can also contribute to the development of the disease.
The symptomatology of neuralgia is very similar to the manifestations of some pathologies of the heart - ischemic disease, angina pectoris. Timely diagnosis and response can save a person's life.
First you need to learn to distinguish between neuralgia and heart disease. For a quick diagnosis, two main differences between these pathologies are used.
Neuralgia is characterized by:
- The pain syndrome persists for a long time;
- Symptoms are aggravated by body movements, when trying to breathe in sharply or exhale and press the ribs.
The difference, for example, with angina, is that neither body movement nor sneezing increases the pain syndrome. However, dynamic physical movements can affect heart rate and blood pressure.
Symptoms partially or completely disappear within minutes after using vasodilating drugs, such as nitroglycerin. To exclude the possibility of heart disease, contact a cardiologist and do an electrocardiogram.
Osteochondritis of the spine
Pain in the spine between the shoulder blades is considered one of the main symptoms of osteochondrosis. The disease is characterized by damage to the intervertebral discs.
During development, the disease begins to affect other areas of the musculoskeletal system and can also affect the nervous system of the body. Depending on the localization of the development of the disease, lumbar, thoracic and cervical osteochondrosis are distinguished.
The main factor in the development of the pathology is the malnutrition of the cartilage tissue of the joint. Previously, this disease was believed to affect only the elderly group of patients, which associated it with age-related changes in the body.
However, experts are now seeing an increase in the number of patients at younger ages.
Experts mention the main factors in the development of the disease: a sedentary lifestyle, a hereditary factor, a deposit of salt, an unbalanced diet.
Attention! If you have back pain in the region of the shoulder blades due to the diagnosis of osteochondrosis, remember: physical activity, the organization of a comfortable workplace and a balanced diet are effective methods for treating and preventingdisease.
Therefore, severe pain rarely appears due to osteochondrosis of the chest region. This section of the spine is the least mobile, and degenerative tissue changes proceed much more slowly here than in the cervical or lumbar region.
Often it is cervical osteochondrosis that is a very common cause of pain between the shoulder blades of the spine. The pain "crosses" the entire spine, descending from the upper parts of the spine to the lower back.
spinal disc herniation
Intervertebral disc herniations, according to some experts, are present in 30-40% of the population at one stage or another.
Most often, this pathology affects young people who lead an active physical life. It is injuries or intense physical exertion that are the main cause of the development of the disease.
The mechanism of the disease is simple. The intervertebral disc is a semi-liquid jelly-like substance, which is surrounded by a rather dense shell. The main task of the disc is to soften and absorb the movement of the vertebrae.
Due to various factors: injuries, skeletal muscle weakness, severe physiological stress, spinal pathology, etc. There is compression or decompression of the spine and tearing of the outer covering of the disc.
At the same time, the gelatinous contents protrude into the spinal canal and compress one, two or more nerve endings, causing numbness in the extremities and pain.
Important! In the acute phase of the course of the disease, massage or warming sessions are categorically contraindicated.
Contrary to popular belief, in the treatment of the disease, it is in no way recommended to give up physical exercises.
It has been proven that the rejection of physical activity leads to muscle atrophy and prolongs the duration of the disease.
At the early stages of development, a hernia is treated conservatively, but in the absence of positive dynamics of recovery within six months, the question of surgical intervention can be considered.
Pathologies of internal organs
Pain between the shoulder blade and the spine can cause a person to have diseases of the internal organs.
First of all, this applies to the organs of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. The most common respiratory problems are: tuberculosis, pneumonia.
Common pathologies of the cardiovascular system are ischemic diseases or, in ordinary people, "angina pectoris". Refers to life-threatening pathologies.
It has similar symptoms with neuralgia and it is important to learn to distinguish them.
If you have symptoms: severe pain in the back between the shoulder blades, shortness of breath, cold sweats and rapid pulse, seek medical attention immediately.
With some diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, the back between the shoulder blades also hurts. The main reasons for this are: peptic ulcer, gastroesophageal reflux, diffuse spasm of the esophagus.
These pathologies often cause the following symptoms: burning in the esophagus, aching pains in the chest.
Patients complain that it hurts in the middle of the solar plexus and gives way in the back between the shoulder blades. In addition, it should not be excluded that back pain in the shoulder blades can cause oncological causes.
Prevention and treatment
To determine an effective treatment for a particular disease, one must first answer the question: why does the back hurt between the shoulder blades? To do this, you need to undergo a full examination by a specialist.
Treatment is prescribed after passing all the necessary procedures and on the basis of a diagnosis made by a specialist. With the development of certain diseases, self-medication can be not only ineffective, but even dangerous.
As you know, any disease is easier to prevent than to cure. Back pain in the shoulder blades can have different causes. What to do to eliminate them?
The answer is simple - engage in prevention. Most diseases develop against the background of an unhealthy lifestyle: giving up bad habits, playing sports, having a balanced diet and this will at least halve the risk of developing various diseases.