Difficult times in a person's life come when his back often starts to hurt. This is not easy and causes a lot of inconvenience, but it can also be chronically unsettling.
With the accelerating pace of modern life, people often neglect their health, referring to the lack of time. People try not to ask this question: Why does the back hurt in the scapula area?
They would rather not waste precious time going to a clinic and receive treatment at home, rather than suspecting that the signal could be a symptom of the presence of a serious or even dangerous disease.
main reason
Why is there a dull pain between the shoulder blades? Many people's back pain symptoms are related to various mechanical injuries to the spine, pinched nerves, or strained muscles.
It should be remembered that pain syndromes may be triggered by lesions of the chest organs.
The causes of interscapular back pain can be conditionally divided into three categories:
- spinal diseases;
- Diseases of internal organs;
- other factors.
It should be clearly recognized that pain is a symptom, not a separate disease. Before you start using medications from your home medicine cabinet, you should find out why: Why is back pain between the shoulder blades?
To do this, you should visit a medical facility, consult a doctor and describe in detail the symptoms, when they occurred, and possible triggers: injury, occupational activity, etc.
This information should assist the specialist in orienting the examination and making a diagnosis.
Inaccurate or untimely diagnosis can be detrimental to human health. Treatment may be prescribed, which will not bring positive results and lead to lost precious time to treat the main cause of pain.
It is important that a person understands the cause of pain for himself and knows the list of possible pathologies causing the pain.
Muscle strain
Spasticity or excessive tension of muscle tissue is not a pathology, but a symptom of excessive physiological stress, and vice versa, its absence.
According to experts, back pain in the scapular region often occurs in patients whose professional activities are associated with prolonged static muscle tension.
The risk group first includes people from the following professions:
- cashier;
- office worker;
- programmer
- driver etc
However, doctors say a person's occupational activities are not always the main cause of the symptoms. In many cases, when examining patients who complain of pain in the scapular region, most of them are found to have dysplasia.
Inherited pathology characterized by defects in fibrous structure due to insufficient production of collagen - a substance responsible for the strength and elasticity of connective tissue.
Therefore, muscle fibers and ligaments simply cannot withstand prolonged physiological stress.
Injuried
The most obvious factor that can cause back pain in the scapula area is injury. All kinds of hematomas, fractures, sprains that occur in the back due to mechanical injury must be accompanied by a severe pain syndrome.
Spinal cord injuries pose a real threat to human health. Displacement of the intervertebral disc or spinal cord injury can cause complete or partial sensitivity of the extremities, limited motor function and, in exceptional cases, complete paralysis.
If the spine between the shoulder blades has prolonged pain from a mechanical injury in an emergency, even if the injury seems minor, seek medical help right away.
Any bruising or unsuccessful landing from a height can lead to disc damage, which can only be diagnosed with the help of special equipment.
Only after a visual inspection and additional X-rays, magnetic resonance or computed tomography scans can a specialist judge the severity of the injury and prescribe appropriate treatment.
intercostal neuralgia
The second name for this condition is chest pain. The disease doesn't actually occur in children, but can affect older adults with age-related changes, bruising, and hypothermia.
It presents as acute pain symptoms in the rib area. Back pain in the scapular region is also a concomitant symptom, often occurring and exacerbated by changes in body position.
Patients can hear complaints of pain when breathing, especially when inhaling or exhaling vigorously.
attention! Back pain between the shoulder blades and other symptoms similar to neuralgia can be a sign that a patient has heart disease. It is important to detect problems in time and take appropriate action - this will save valuable time and potentially save the patient's life.
The main cause of sudden upper back pain with this condition is pinching or pinching of the nerve roots.
The disease develops against the background of many factors: bruising, osteochondrosis, excessive physiological stress, metabolic disorders, stress, colds.
Muscle spasms or, conversely, excessive muscle tone in the back, shoulder, and scapula extensors may also contribute to the development of the disease.
The symptoms of neuralgia are very similar to those of some heart diseases - ischemic disease, angina pectoris. Timely diagnosis and prompt response can save a person's life.
First you need to learn to distinguish between neuralgia and heart disease. For rapid diagnosis, two major distinctions between these pathologies are used.
Neuralgia is characterized by:
- Pain syndrome that lasts for a long time;
- Physical exercise can worsen symptoms when trying to breathe or exhale vigorously and press on the ribs.
The difference is that, for example, angina, neither physical movement nor sneezing increase pain syndromes. However, dynamic body movements can affect heart rate and blood pressure.
Symptoms partially or completely resolve within a few minutes after using vasodilator drugs such as nitroglycerin. To rule out a heart attack, contact a cardiologist and have an electrocardiogram.
spinal osteochondritis
Spinal pain between the shoulder blades is considered one of the main symptoms of osteochondrosis. The disease is characterized by damage to the intervertebral discs.
As it develops, the disease begins to affect other areas of the musculoskeletal system and can also affect the nervous system of the body. Lumbar, thoracic, and cervical osteochondrosis can be differentiated according to the site of disease progression.
The main factor in the development of the pathology is the malnutrition of the articular cartilage tissue. Previously, it was thought that the disease only affected older patients, which was associated with age-related physical changes.
Today, however, experts are noticing an increase in younger patients.
Experts mention the main factors in the development of the disease: a sedentary lifestyle, genetic factors, salt deposits, an unbalanced diet.
attention! If you have back pain in the shoulder blade area due to an osteochondrosis diagnosis, remember: physical activity, organizing a comfortable workplace, and a balanced diet are effective ways to treat and prevent the disease.
Therefore, osteochondrosis in the thoracic region rarely presents with severe pain. This part of the spine has the least movement, where degenerative tissue changes are much slower than in the cervical or lumbar regions.
In general, cervical osteochondrosis is a common cause of pain between the shoulder blades of the spine. The pain "penetrates" the entire spine, descending from the upper spine to the lower back.
herniated disc
According to some experts, 30-40% of the population has a herniated disc at one stage or another.
Mostly, this condition affects young people who lead an active physical lifestyle. Injury or heavy physical exertion is a major cause of disease development.
The pathogenesis of the disease is simple. The disc is a semi-liquid jelly-like substance surrounded by a fairly dense shell. The main task of the intervertebral disc is to soften and absorb the movement of the vertebrae.
Due to various factors: injury, skeletal muscle weakness, severe physiological stress, spinal lesions, etc. Compression or decompression of the spine, tearing of the disc shell.
At the same time, the jelly-like contents protrude into the spinal canal, compressing one, two or more nerve endings, causing numbness and pain in the limbs.
important! During the acute phase of the disease process, massage or warming is absolutely forbidden.
Contrary to popular belief, giving up physical activity is never recommended when treating an illness.
Rejection of physical activity has been shown to cause muscle wasting and prolong disease duration.
In the initial stages of development, hernias are treated conservatively, but when there is no positive recovery within six months, surgical intervention may be considered.
Visceral pathology
Pain between the shoulder blades and the spine can cause a person to suffer from a disease of the internal organs.
First, this applies to the organs of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. The most common respiratory problems are: tuberculosis, pneumonia.
A common condition of the cardiovascular system is ischemic disease, or "angina pectoris" in the general population. Refers to a potentially life-threatening condition.
It has similar symptoms to neuralgia, and it's important to learn to distinguish between them.
Seek immediate medical attention if you have the following symptoms: severe back pain between the shoulder blades, shortness of breath, cold sweats, and rapid pulse.
With some gastrointestinal disorders, the back between the shoulder blades can also be injured. The main reasons: peptic ulcer, gastroesophageal reflux, diffuse spasm of the esophagus.
These conditions usually cause the following symptoms: burning esophagus, chest pain.
The patient complained of pain in the middle of the solar plexus and back pain between the shoulder blades. Furthermore, a possible oncological cause of back pain in the scapular region cannot be ruled out.
prevention and treatment
Determining an effective treatment option for a particular condition starts with answering the question: Why does my back hurt between the shoulder blades? For this, you should undergo a thorough examination by an expert.
After passing all necessary procedures and according to the diagnosis of a specialist. With the development of certain diseases, self-medication is not only ineffective, but even dangerous.
As we all know, any disease is easier to prevent than to treat. Scapular back pain can have different causes. What can be done to eliminate them?
The answer is simple - practice prevention. Most diseases develop against the background of an unhealthy lifestyle: breaking bad habits, exercising, eating a balanced diet will reduce the risk of various diseases by at least half.