What is the Burning Sensation between My Shoulder Blades?

Today's Blog Post comes from a Yahoo Question from a 16 year old with pain in between the shoulder blades:

My brother says I have bad posture. I just have this horrible burning sensation between my shoulder blades and I get a stiff neck often, and it is just killing me. I am a 16-year-old teenager, why I got to suffer from this pain at such a young age?

This burning sensation between your shoulder blades is probably the rhomboid muscles being tight and in spasm. The Rhomboid muscles sit between your spine and scapula. The rhomboid muscles attach from C7 to T5 vertebrae to the medial border of the scapula. So the this muscle connects to your neck and midback area. The rhomboids are made up of rhomboid major and rhomboid minor. Also contributing to the pain in between the shoulder blades is going to be the thoracic paraspinals, and the trapezius muscle.


As a student, do you spend a lot of time studying or sitting with your head forward over your books? Inadverdently, you may even be slouching ! Especially if you have upper back sticks out. If you do, you are setting yourself up for bad posture. If you do this everyday it puts a tremendous amount of pressure on your back muscles and even more on your neck. Bad posture can contribute to neck pain, upper back pain, stiff neck and sore shoulders and more.

The good news is that there are some simple things that you can do:

[1] Try not to slouch when you are sitting at school or while studying- make sure your back is straight. A good idea is have a back rest or cushion on your chair- this will ensure that you can sit back comfortably and not slouch. A back rest will also put a slight curve in your spine which promotes good posture. The Sit Back Rest is a good low back rest designed for the lumbar spine. Another good choice for when you sitting in the car or prefer a lumbar support that is slimmer is the SlimBack Rest.

[2] Instead of having to flex your head forward while studying, raise your material to eye level- If you can stand your books up that would really help with the neck and upper back pain.

[3] Exercises are important for your neck and upper back. Here are some good neck exercises. Even exercises like Yoga will help.

[4] Take breaks while you study

[5] Look at your backpack. Is it too heavy? Your backpack should weigh no more than 15 % of your body weight; So for example if you weigh 100 lbs, your backpack should weigh less than 15 lbs. There is a really good backpack called the Air Pack that your parents may want to check out. Look for a backpack that evenly distributes the weight of the contents.

[6] Here is a stretch for your rhomboid muscle and upper back: Cross one arm in front of your body. Now use the opposite arm to squeeze into your body and above or below elbow joint. Hold this stretch for about 10-15 seconds.


Visit Arc 4 Life for your online selection of low back pain relief products, back pack and lumbar supports.


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Ravens' Ed Reed Continues Playing His Best Despite a Nerve Impingment in his Neck

American football player Ed Reed who plays for the Baltimore Ravens has been having quite the season. He is playing so well despite a nerve impingement in his neck and shoulder. This is one of the reasons Reed wore a hands-off red quarterback's jersey much of training camp and was sidelined the entire preseason.

Reed has battled through the condition to become a relentless pain in the neck to opposing quarterbacks. Reed has said that his health is very important to him, and if it means that he has to sit it out for a while, he will.

"I never doubted my ability," Reed says. "It was just a matter of playing with my injury. The pain is still there. I've just been doing a lot of treatment this year and staying focused and keeping my eyes out for any feeling that I had in training camp that would put me out.

"I haven't had that. So I just move forward with it, take it day by day."

If it comes to surgery for this nerve impingement in his neck, Reed knows that it will affect his career and he is not willing to take that risk.

A nerve impingement in the neck is a very serious medical condition. It creates extra pressure on the neck nerves- nerves that supply all the head and neck muscles. When pressure is put on a cervical nerve 3 aspects are effected: motor, sensory and reflex. Reed may feel muscle weakness on the side of nerve impingment, may have a change or loss of sensation (like numbess and tingling) and also diminished reflexes. Regardless of the pain that he is dealing with in his neck, Reed continues to make a great performance.

Reed led the league in interceptions with nine this season and has 43 in the regular season for his career. He also has five career playoff interceptions and would seem a natural spokesman for the Maryland Lottery folks because of his uncanny knack for cashing in a pick six.

Reed continues to work to get treatment for his condition, and judging from his recent plays it is working but he has to be very careful. Having good support for his neck will be helpful such as neck traction or using a supportive neck pillow at night. There are newer treatments such as non surgical spinal decompression that may help him as well. Modalities such as heat and ice. Electrotherapy and massage will be beneficial to aid in muscle spasms and pain.

The 2004 NFL defensive player of the year is the only player in league history to boast a touchdown off a punt return, blocked punt, interception and fumble recovery. "He's maybe the best player in the game," Ravens coach John Harbaugh said.

Reed has be careful in his next plays- yes he wants to be the best he can be for his team, but his health is more important and will affect the rest of his life.

Source: Jim Corbett: Reed overcomes own anguish to be a pain to opposing QBs USA Today

Picture Source: Lil_Mon_21 on Flickr

Additional Reading Resources:

• What is the Best Pillow for A Pinched Nerve in the Neck
  
• Part III: The Causes of Severe Neck Pain Resulting from a Cervical Radiculopathy
  
• Part II: Neck Pain resulting from a C5, C6, C7, or C8 Radiculopathy
  
• Part I: Are Your Severe Neck Pain Symptoms the Result of a Cervical Radiculopathy?
  
• How to End Neck Pain By Doing Cervical Traction At Home - Learn Step by Step instructions how to use the Pronex Cervical Traction Neck Unit at Home
  
• How Does a T.E.N.S Unit Work for Pain Relief
  
• Hot and Cold Therapy for your Neck Pain Symptoms


• Easy Pain Relief at Home: Using Hot and Cold- A Blog Post about how to treat pain at home with ice or heat; when to use each.
  

Visit Arc 4 life for your online selection of Neck Pain Relief Products for Home- cervical support neck pillows, neck traction, electrotherapy and other products


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Help Me! My husband Snores and I Cannot Sleep!!!

More people than you think snore. If you are a spouse or loved one of a "snorer" you know all to well how annoying it can be. More importantly is that for the person snoring is it not healthy. It is a sign they are not breathing properly. It may also be a sign of an underlying medical condition.

In the vast majority of snorers it’s an obstruction of airway. Breathing is extremely important because getting fresh air through your system is very valuable in your body functions and processes. Almost every reaction in your body uses oxygen. Fresh oxygen also helps detoxify your body. We know without air we cannot survive !

Whether you notice it or not snoring will also prevent you and who ever can hear you for a good nights sleep. The body performs many healing functions when you sleep and without a good amount of rest your body and mind will not work at its best. Just think of how you feel the next day if you didn’t sleep much the night before.

The Cervical Traction Neck Pillow puts your neck in its optimal position. This not only reduces pressure or nerves in your neck but allows for all your nasal passages to stay in an open clear position.

Clearly keeping all your nasal passage ways allows for air to move in and out freely reducing and preventing snoring. Something that many people overlook however is that keeping pressure of nerves communication to your sinuses and air passageways also plays a vital role.

Every aspect of our body and its functions are controlled by our nervous system. If we keep pressure and unwanted stress off of the nerves communication to our sinuses and nasal passageways we ensure that all is functioning 100%. Remember, any pressure on our nerves means that the part of the body those nerves innervate is not functioning at its best.

The right neck pillow puts your neck spine in its proper position. It helps keep the neck spine free and clear of any nerve pressure. This is often why the breathing strips placed over the nose sometimes do not work. The really only help open one air passage but don’t do anything for the nerves. The cervical traction neck pillow helps with both.

Some other things that may be contributing to the snoring is poor air quality. In the winter time when the air is oten more dry an the furnace is always running you may notice the snoring problem more. Allergens in the air can also contribute to the problem.

The Cervical Traction neck pillow is made with special hypoallergenic fibers and also is available with a dust protector cover to protect it from the outside dust and allergens in the air. This can be very helpful to individuals with dust allergies that can be contributing to the problem.

Also I recommend changing your air filters frequently and often cleaning your air ducts periodically to reduce dust and allergies in your homes air supply. Sometimes a humidifier in the bedroom may help put a little moisture in the air. So start in the path to getting rid of your snoring habit by choosing the rght neck pillow. Not only will it make your loved ones happier but it will improve your health.

Additional Resources:

• 6 ways to Get a Better Nights Sleep
  
• Counting Sheep to Fall Asleep, Does it Work?


• Neck Pain Support Blog
  

Visit Arc 4 Life for your online selection of cervical support neck pillows, orthopedic pain relief products and Home traction units. Natural Products for pain relief everyday.


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To all our Loyal Readers, Wishing Everyone A Wonderful 2009, filled with Good Health, Happiness and Laughter !!- NJ