Top 3 Exercises For Your Upper Back Pain
Do you have upper back pain ?
Is your pain about the size of a golf ball on one side of your upper back? Then you need to do these exercises so you can feel better.
What’s the cause of your upper back pain? Many web sites say things like:
- Rhomboid Muscle Trigger Point
- Levator Scapula Muscle Trigger Point
- Rib Subluxation (Rib Out of Place)
While these may be the cause of your upper back pain, for most people upper back pain comes from the neck. Holding your chin up and out leads to the trigger points and rib subluxations leading to upper back pain, like the picture below.
See Also: 3 Exercises For Your Neck Pain
What I am saying is that your posture is the cause, and the pain in the upper back is the symptom. When you bring your chin up and out your neck comes forward.
For every inch / 2cm that you bring your neck forward the weight that your neck has to hold up doubles. Your head is about 12 lb/5kg so when you bring your head forwards by one inch/ 2cm your neck has to hold up the equivalent of 24lb/10 kg.
Most people bring their head forwards 3 inches/6.6 cm or more. So you are holding up the equivalent of 36lb/15kg. Now that’s a heavy head!
Your heavy head is held up by the muscles at the back of your neck and the upper back. With enough pressure the ribs go out of place, and causes muscle trigger points like the rhomboid muscle and levator scapula. It even puts more pressure on your discs and ligaments. With enough time the ligaments get stretched out the discs start to bulge and you get a muscle imbalance.
See Also: Neck Pain-The Best Exercises For Your Stiff Neck
I see most people when they are 25 years or older but the problem is getting more acute. I have seen 10 years old that play with ipads with bad posture triggering upper back pain.
Exercises For Your upper back pain.
Stretch Your Trapezius Muscle
- Turn 45 degree to one side.
- Bend your neck sideways.
- Put your hand on your head and let the weight of your arm pull your head down.
- Let the opposite shoulder relax and drop. If you don’t feel a stretch bring your shoulder down by holding onto a eg. table.
- Do 3 sets for 30 seconds several times a day.
Stretch You Levator Scapula
- Do the trapezius stretch.
- Turn your head in the opposite direction till you are halfway in the opposite direction with some forward flexion.
- You should feel it on the same side you felt the trapezius stretch.
- Do 3 sets for 30 seconds on both sides several times a day.
Stretch The Muscles At the side and Front Of Your Neck
- Put both hands on your chest just below the collar bone, pushing down.
- Extend your neck backwards and to opposite the side.
- Do 3 sets for 30 seconds on both sides
Tell us what you think in the comments below and like us on Facebook. This Toronto Downtown Chiropractor will answer all questions in the comments section.
Dr Ken Nakamura
29 Responses to Top 3 Exercises For Your Upper Back Pain
June 30, 2021 at 3:29 am
I have herniated disc in my neck and back due to an accident almost 2yrs ago. I’ve seen a chiropractor, orthopedic and pain management but still no relief. Any suggestions to help decrease the pain and stiffness?
August 13, 2020 at 4:18 pm
Hi Dr,
My problem started 2 weeks ago, i am an active weight lifter and was doing 60kg but recently i started feeling a pain parallel to the spine on my upper back. i would massage the muscle involved and it becomes better but after hours it comes back. the type of pain feel like a spams that feels like you must massage.
October 6, 2020 at 6:07 pm
Thanks for your questions Jan. Sounds like the dorsal scapular nerve. A chiropractor that does ART can take care of this. This is my opinion and not a recommendation. You should always get checked by a practitioner that can examine you. Hope that helps.
December 4, 2017 at 10:40 am
Hi there,
I am having pain in a similar area however, the pain occasionally wraps around my head and gives me severe headaches. Additionally, I think it has created a muscle imbalance on the entire right side of my body. I am right handed and sit at a desk all day and can feel that my left side is stronger when perforMing exercises in the gym. I am a 26 year old active male who plays soccer and lifts weights 4-5 times a week. I’m also left footed and think this may have contributed to the muscle imbalance. I have been consciously trying to work on my posture recently and don’t find it to be helping. Do you have any suggestions?
December 6, 2017 at 8:18 am
Thanks for your question Pat. I would simply do the exercises here in this article. By doing the exercises you should be able to decrease the pressure on your neck and thus the pressure on the nerve that is causing you to have the headaches. The above is an opinion.
If you have any more questions for this chiropractor I will do my best to give you a good answer.
October 12, 2017 at 6:42 pm
I have been having Back pains for years now. what should I do.
October 12, 2017 at 8:48 pm
You should give me a lot more detail so I can determine if I can give you a proper opinion. As you can imagine a car with something wrong. If you say to the mechanic the engine doesn’t work. The mechanic cannot fix it based on that information alone. They usually look at it, do tests etc…
You need to make a detailed account of what ails your back, where it is, how long you’ve had the problem, what aggravates the problem, what makes it better. Make a list of all the positions that are worse, what you can’t do or have a hard time doing. That’s just a start.
I hope that gives you an idea of what you need to say so, to allow me to give you a good opinion. Without good information, I can’t give you a good opinion. Hope that makes sense. Remember that I can’t examine you or take a detailed history. You are trying to give as much of the history of your condition as possible.
September 12, 2017 at 2:39 pm
Hey there. I got into accident which caused pain in my upper back n neck n kind of vertebral column. What should I do
September 12, 2017 at 11:01 pm
Thanks for your question Rakshinda. First, if the accident happened in the past week and it is severe exercises will make you worse. If your neck is not severe you should try to move your neck to the maximum in every direction rotation, side bending, forward bending and extension. The goal is to get a full range of motion with a little bit of pain. If the pain is sharp then you are going too hard. With any accident of significance, you should see your health care practitioner like a chiropractor who can help you with the specific exercises and therapies that you need. You will not likely get better with just exercises after a car accident if severe enough. A light accident with minor injuries yes, you can get better with exercises.
Hope that helps your neck and upper back pain. If you any more questions for the chiropractor from downtown Toronto I will do my best to give you a good answer. The above is an opinion and not a recommendation.