A difficult period of life comes when a person's back often begins to hurt. It is not easy to cause anxiety and it causes a lot of anxiety, but it can also worry a person for a long time.
With the rhythm of modern life, people often neglect their health, referring to lack of time. People try not to ask the question: why does the back hurt in the area of the shoulder blades?
They prefer not to waste precious time going to the clinic and are treated at home, not suspecting that this signal may be a sign of the presence of serious or even dangerous diseases.
The main reasons
Why can there be a dull pain between the shoulder blades? In many people, back pain symptoms are associated with various mechanical injuries of the spine, pinched nerves or muscle tension.
It should be taken into account that the pain syndrome can be triggered by pathologies of the chest organs.
The causes of back pain between the shoulder blades can be conventionally divided into three categories:
- Diseases of the spine;
- diseases of internal organs;
- Other factors.
It is necessary to clearly and clearly understand that pain is not an independent disease, but a symptom. Before you start using the medicines available in your home medicine cabinet, you should find out why: why does the back hurt between the shoulder blades?
To do this, you need to visit a medical institution, consult a doctor and describe in detail the symptoms, the time of their occurrence and possible provoking factors: injuries, professional activities, etc.
This information should help specialists determine the direction of the examination and make a diagnosis.
An incorrect or untimely diagnosis can harm human health. Therapy may be prescribed that will not have a positive effect and will result in a loss of valuable time to treat the underlying cause of the pain.
It is important that a person himself understands the causes of pain and knows the possible list of pathologies that cause it.
muscle tension
Spasm or excessive tension of muscle tissue does not belong to pathologies, on the contrary, it is a sign of excessive physiological stress or, conversely, its absence.
According to experts, back pain in the area of the shoulder blades is often found in patients associated with prolonged static muscle tension in professional activities.
The risk group primarily includes 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 with complaints of pain in the region of the shoulder blades, dysplasia was found in most of them.
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.
For this reason, muscle fibers and ligaments simply cannot withstand long-term physiological stress.
Injuries
Perhaps the most obvious cause of back pain in the area of the shoulder blades is an injury. Various types of hematomas, fractures, and sprains that occur in the back as a result of mechanical damage are necessarily accompanied by a strong pain syndrome.
Spinal injuries can pose a real threat to human health. Displacement of the spinal discs or damage to the spinal cord can cause complete or partial numbness of the limbs, limitation of motor functions, and in special cases can cause complete paralysis.
If the spine between the shoulder blades hurts for a long time due to mechanical damage as a result of emergencies, even if the damage seems small, you should immediately consult a doctor.
Any bruise or an unsuccessful fall from a height can cause damage to the vertebral discs, which can only be diagnosed with the help of special equipment.
Only a specialist can judge the severity of the injury and prescribe the appropriate treatment after a visual examination and additional X-ray examination, magnetic resonance or computed tomography.
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, bruises and hypothermia.
It manifests itself with symptoms of acute and painful pain in the rib area. Back pain in the area of the shoulder blades is also an accompanying symptom that often occurs and intensifies during changes in body position.
Patients may hear complaints of pain during breathing, especially during sharp inhalation or exhalation.
Attention! Back pain between the shoulder blades and other symptoms similar to neuralgia can be a signal that the patient has heart pathologies. It is important to recognize the problem in time and take appropriate measures - this will save valuable time and possibly save the patient's life.
The main factor that causes the exploding pain in the upper back with this disease is compression 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 timely response can save a person's life.
First you need to learn to distinguish between neuralgia and heart disease. Two main differences between these pathologies are used for rapid diagnosis.
Neuralgia is characterized by:
- Pain syndrome lasts for a long time;
- Symptoms are aggravated by body movements when trying to take a sharp breath or breathe and press on the ribs.
The difference, for example, in angina pectoris, neither body movement nor sneezing increases the pain syndrome. However, dynamic physical activity can affect heart rate and blood pressure.
After the use of vasodilator drugs such as nitroglycerin, the symptoms disappear partially or completely within a few minutes. To exclude the possibility of heart disease, contact a cardiologist and take 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 body's nervous system. Lumbar, thoracic and cervical osteochondrosis are distinguished according to the localization of the development of the disease.
The main factor in the development of pathology is the lack of nourishment of the cartilage tissue of the joint. Previously, this disease was believed to affect only the elderly group of patients, who attributed it to age-related changes in the body.
However, today, experts note that the number of patients is increasing at a younger age.
Experts point to the main factors in the development of the disease: a sedentary lifestyle, hereditary factors, salt deposition, an unbalanced diet.
Attention! If your back hurts in the area of the shoulder blades due to the diagnosis of osteochondrosis, remember: physical activity, a comfortable workplace and a balanced diet are effective methods for the treatment and prevention of the disease.
Therefore, severe pain due to osteochondrosis of the thoracic region rarely appears. This part of the spine is the least mobile, and degenerative tissue changes there are slower than in the cervical or lumbar region.
Cervical osteochondrosis is a very common cause of pain between the shoulder blades in the spine. The pain "shoots" the entire spine, going down from the upper parts of the spine to the back.
Herniated discs of the spine
Intervertebral disc herniations, according to some experts, are present in 30-40% of the population at one stage or another.
Often, this pathology affects young people who lead an active physical lifestyle. The main reason for the development of the disease is injuries or heavy physical exertion.
The mechanism of the disease is simple. The intervertebral disc is a semi-liquid jelly-like substance surrounded by a fairly 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, pathology of the spine, etc. There is compression or decompression of the spine and a herniated disc.
At the same time, the jelly-like contents escape into the spinal canal and compress one, two or more nerve endings, causing numbness and pain in the extremities.
It is important! During the acute stage of the disease, massage or heating sessions are strictly contraindicated.
Contrary to popular belief, it is not recommended to give up physical exercises in the treatment of the disease.
It has been proven that the refusal of physical activity leads to muscle atrophy and prolongs the duration of the disease.
In the initial stages of development, the hernia is treated conservatively, but if there is no positive recovery dynamics 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 diseases of a person's internal organs.
First of all, it concerns the organs of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. The most common respiratory problems are: tuberculosis, pneumonia.
Common pathologies of the cardiovascular system are ischemic disease or "angina pectoris" in ordinary people. It refers to potentially life-threatening pathologies.
It has similar symptoms to neuralgia and it is important to learn to distinguish between them.
If you have symptoms: severe pain in the back between the shoulder blades, shortness of breath, cold sweat, and a rapid pulse, see a doctor immediately.
Between some diseases of the gastrointestinal tract and shoulder blades, the back also hurts. The main reasons for this are: gastric ulcer, gastroesophageal reflux, diffuse spasm of the esophagus.
These pathologies often cause the following symptoms: burning in the esophagus, aching pain in the chest.
Patients complain that it hurts in the middle of the solar plexus and gives back between the shoulder blades. Also, it should not be excluded that back pain in the area of the shoulder blades may have oncological causes.
Prevention and treatment
In order to prescribe an effective course of treatment for a particular disease, it is first necessary to answer the question: why does the back hurt between the shoulder blades? For this, you need to undergo a thorough examination by a specialist.
Treatment is prescribed after passing all the necessary procedures and based on the diagnosis made by a specialist. With the development of certain diseases, self-treatment can be not only ineffective, but even dangerous.
As you know, it is easier to prevent any disease than to treat it. Back pain in the shoulder blades can have various causes. What should be done to eliminate them?
The answer is simple - to engage in prevention. Most diseases develop against the background of an unhealthy lifestyle: give up bad habits, do sports, eat a balanced diet, and this will reduce the risk of developing various diseases by at least half.