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Upper back pain/locked muscles... anyone else have this?

Posted , 3 users are following.

DreaMarie27
DreaMarie27

I've been suffering from upper back pain for over two years now. I am and have always been someone who works out and loves to be fit. This all kind of started around the time that I trained for my first 10-mile run. It started with severe trigger points that I would rub on with a lacrosse ball (which hurt like heck) and started spreading across to both sides. It originally was only the left side first.

I feel great when I'm moving and working out but once I'm done everything in my upper and now mid back locks up and aches. I have an office desk job so when I'm at work and driving I'm in pain which is most of every day.

Hot yoga, physical therapy, chiropractors, tens unit, ice and hot packs, all help only when I'm moving or doing it. I can hear my ribs pop around if I squeeze my back shoulder blades together or take deep breaths.

Blood work shows nothing. According to my chiropractor the MRI's show possible herniated discs in cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine but when I showed my MRIs to a spine sergion he looked at them and said my spine looks great and to ignore the chiropractor advice.

Anyone else have this????? Please help!!

0 likes, 18 replies

18 Replies

  • katecogs
    katecogs DreaMarie27

    Posted

    That's interesting.

    I have exactly this but with my lower back.  I've had 22 years of back pain (following 2 babies/childbirth and 2 epidurals - the last epidural being horrendously painful).  I'm always in pain too after working out - feels like my back has completely locked and is so painful that I can't even bend to put socks/shoes back on.  Takes about an hour for it to calm down.

    I've had all manner of treatments etc over the years too and I've never been given a cause.  The physio this week said the pain after exercising is my muscles going into spasm to protect an old injury (have put my back out many times before, so probably that), and suggested that the day before and the day of exercising I take Iburprofen so it'll help stop the inflammation before it happens.

    Not tried it yet.

     

  • amkoffee
    amkoffee DreaMarie27

    Posted

    Well you might do well with some trigger point injections in those areas that hurt. I would look for a pain specialist to look into that treatment.
    • DreaMarie27
      DreaMarie27 amkoffee

      Posted

      I tried those last year and it didn't help my muscles release at all. I might try a steroid injection in my cervical spine in a few weeks to see if that will help but I want to fix it not just numb the pain.

    • amkoffee
      amkoffee DreaMarie27

      Posted

      A steroid injection reduces inflammation. The doctor can add

      Lidocaine to the serum that he's injecting and that will numb

      the area as well. (I'm not talking about the sh*t they give you

      before the injection to numb you.) But that is very temporary,

      lasting only about that one day.

    • DreaMarie27
      DreaMarie27 amkoffee

      Posted

      If you click on the red "why" where it says it's been moderated it explains why. What did you try to send?

    • amkoffee
      amkoffee DreaMarie27

      Posted

      It must have been one of those accidentally caught up because of an extra space or something wrong because I didn't have anything in those comments that follow their do not do rules. The post was just about injections. Oh well.

    • ihavenonickname
      ihavenonickname amkoffee

      Posted

      When I am injected, they use a combination of a rapid acting steroid and a long acting steroid.
  • DreaMarie27
    DreaMarie27

    Posted

    I also have tried trigger point injections and did not have any kind of specific incident that sparked this that I can recall. I woke up one morning after a night st the gym and had the cramping aching feeling and it continued to progress from there. I fear that no one will ever figure this out and will keep tossing me from one doctor to the next.
  • ihavenonickname
    ihavenonickname DreaMarie27

    Posted

    Sounds like you are in the USA...did you know that a chiropractor is not required to have a 4 year degree...yet they call themselves, doctor...
  • Roccdeezy
    Roccdeezy DreaMarie27

    Posted

    Dreamarie27! Try seeing a rhuemotologist and get checked for auto immune desease! The points that trigger could be false attacks of inflammation! I have AS which attacks my back and hips. I use to get trigger points on my sternum! I would touch and rub a spot and eventually it would become really painful to the point I couldn't touch it anymore! My condition makes me feel better when I work out and it gets bad when I sit, relax or sleep. You could have something different but it's worth a shot if you don't get any results! Good luck.

    • DreaMarie27
      DreaMarie27 Roccdeezy

      Posted

      I will look into that this week. What does AS stand for? How long did it take for you to figure this out? When your muscles are tight do you feel and hear your ribs pop or just joints in general snap all around?
    • Roccdeezy
      Roccdeezy DreaMarie27

      Posted

      Dream Arien AS = Ankylosing spondylitis! Many people have different symptoms with AS. I would have muscle spasms all the time in my back and neck! I also felt like I had broken ribs for a long time! I can't remember my ribs popping but I remember how bad my ribs and sternum would hurt! It took me almost 20 years to get diagnosed! Doctors kept telling me everything was normal.

    • DreaMarie27
      DreaMarie27 Roccdeezy

      Posted

      Have you or has anyone heard of Prolotherapy? After researching slipping rib syndrome I came across this.
    • Roccdeezy
      Roccdeezy DreaMarie27

      Posted

      I've never heard of it! I know some people have good results from injections but I've heard bad stories too. I'm not sure of prolotherapy but I think the injections I'm referring too are anti inflammatory or steroidal. I think prolotherapy might be a synthetic that takes up the space where the joint use to be and has now deteriated. Like I said I'm not too familiar with it.

    • DreaMarie27
      DreaMarie27 Roccdeezy

      Posted

      Did you get blood work done to show this? Or was it another kind of scan or something? What did they have you do or give you for it? Have ou had any relief?
    • Roccdeezy
      Roccdeezy DreaMarie27

      Posted

      It was tested through blood work! Turned out I had some gene HLA-B27 that I tested positive for. You can have the gene and not have AS but only 10-20% of people don't have AS it if they test positive. To confirm the doctors would start to pull up all imaging you have ever had over the coarse of your life and look for excelerated rates of deteriation of joints in the hips and back etc.. to confirm. This is all done by rhuemotologist doctors. The medicine used to treat it is humira,enbrel and cosentyx. The medicine has made me feel great and my life is back to normal. I can't maintain a normal life without it.

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