Strain of the Upper Back…What Can I Do?

Upper Back Pain can be common in athletes
and for people who work on the computer

Upper back pain can be common with athletes who work out with weights (muscle strain), and for people who work on a computer or at a desk daily (poor posture). This can put stress on the upper back area causing pain, muscle spasms, tightness and an overall a feeling of discomfort.

One of the best things to do in this case is use a neck pillow. What you’ll notice, I’ll bet, is that even though the pain may be between the shoulder blades or up closer to the shoulder, it is made worse by moving your neck. Not only that your neck range of motion may be limited.

We need to align the neck as good as possible because nerves that exit between neck vertebrae mainly supply the upper back. For example- your trapezius muscle, which is a large muscle that covers a good portion of the back of the neck and upper back is mainly innervated by cervical nerves. What does this mean? Well, it tells us we need to keep the neck nerves free from pressure for the upper back to work like it should.

This is exactly what a neck pillow is designed to do. With arc4life's cervical traction pillow, not only does it align the neck but it also gives a gentle neck stretch opening up the nerve holes, and releasing more pressure.

So even if you have pain lower down, look to the neck spine for issues also. It may be the reason for your pain and has been going unnoticed.

Additonal Reading You May Find Interesting

• Neck Pain While at the Gym
• Arc4life’s Spine-Worx Posture system helps maintain spinal alignment!
• The Dreaded Hunchback - How to Correct That Area of Your Upper Back That Pops Out and Looks Funny!
• Arc4life's Cervical Traction Neck Pillow
• Which Neck Pillow is Right for Me
  Pain in the Upper Trapezius Muscle

Visit Arc4life.com for your online selection of cervical support neck pillows, orthopedic pain relief products and Home traction units. Products for pain relief.




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Simple Exercises to Combat Neck Pain and Tension in the Shoulders

Many people have desk jobs where they are hunched over their desk, with their shoulders hunched up looking over paperwork. Often they come home with neck pain and suffer daily. They have muscle spasms in their neck, upper back and shoulders.
A couple of months ago, Denmark's National Research Centre for the Working Environment, released the results of their study into what really helps people with tense shoulders.

The researchers asked volunteers to exercise (cycling), or do exercises aimed at the trapezius muscles.

Others were told not to change their behaviour.
The strength exercises below are what worked. Do them three times per week - the routine takes under five minutes - and like the volunteers in the study, your neck pain should be reduced by an enormous 80%.

When you are doing these exercises, you should keep your knees slightly bent throughout the movements. You should use dumbbells of 2-5 lbs (if you don't have dumbells use a bottle of water or a can of vegetables). You should repeat until your muscles are exhausted which should happen at some point between 8-12 repetitions. When the weight becomes easy, move onto a heavier one.
Here is the exercise routine:
● Shrug. Hold your arms at the sides, holding weights and palms facing in. Keeping your arms straight, pull shoulders up to your ears, pause for a second and lower.
● Bend forward so your chest faces the floor, arms hanging down, palms facing inwards to each other holding weights. With elbows slightly bent, squeeze shoulder blades and raise arms to your sides, parallel to the floor. Hold in this position, pause and then lower.
● Stand with your palms in front of thighs and facing legs. Bend your elbows to the sides and pull weights up to about collarbone level. Pause, then lower.

Visit Arc4life to learn stretching and strengthening neck exercises

Image Source: Janet Travell, MD and David Simons, MD text "Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: The Trigger Point Manual. volume 1