Does anyone have sharp knife pains on you upper back?

Terri1980:  Have you had your gall bladder checked out?  That's kind of the general area for that and a symptom.  Just a possibility.

That sounds very reminiscent of the muscle pain/trapped nerve pains I had alongside PMR and was probably due to myofascial pain syndrome (MPS). It is often found in people with PMR and is due to the same inflammatory substances as PMR except in PMR they are "systemic" (all through the body) and in MPS the are in concentrated areas which form trigger points which tend to be in pairs on either side of the spine in the shoulders, about rib level and in the low back. They can cause the muscles to tense and eventually go into spasm - and pinch or irritate nerves which leads to referred pain somewhere else. I used to get a sort of tingling, electric shock sort of pain into my scapula which went on over a long period, eventually it became like a hot needle being stuck into the area.

I had a range of things done eventaully after my entire back went into spasm and I ended up in hospital as I couldn't move. But maybe an easy thing to get done  (no doctors to persuade) is a few sessions of Bowen therapy. Yes, I know I go on about it, but it really does help a lot of these sort of problems that appear on top of PMR. If it is going to help then you will notice a change in the first 3 sessions - it may take more in the long term but if 3 haven't helped at all they probably won't.

There are many people on the 3 PMR forums who have benefitted a lot from Bowen. One lady was walking with a zimmer frame to get from her bed to the loo next door - and spent most of 6 weeks in bed as the least uncomfortable position. After one session of Bowen she walked back to the car, forgetting the walking stick she'd had to use to get into the room! Another has had PMR for 11 years, has never managed to reduce her pred significantly and was still in considerable pain. After her first few Bowen sessions she is noticing a difference in some of the pain and is able to get through 7 hours at night without heavy pain killers. She says it is a work in progress - but it's the first improvement she's seen in years.