Deep Upper Back Pain

Deep Upper Back Pain may emanate from many tissues.


The pain started about a month after I had an auto-accident in 2009, x-rays were ran(everything was fine) &internal bleeding was ruled out. But prior to the accident I had a distal subluxation in 2006 that was treated.

The pain (EXCRUCIATING) originates from my upper back right side, around the area of the rhomboid muscle. Sometimes it throbs, pulsates and radiates to my shoulder; no tingling in my arms and fingers can't raise my arm for more than 5mins without pain, used cold/heat compress, trigger injections, Ibuprofen(temporary relief), physiotherapy, still no improvement.

An orthopedist says it could be an injury to my posterior ribs.

Please help cause I have been dealing with the pain for 7yrs and I really don't know the cause.

The encouraging thing, if you can see it in that light, is that having started immediately after trauma, we need not be concerned about pathology. Cancer in the spine or ribs would have been one of the differentials.

There are three things I look for;

1. A posterior rib as the orthopaedist says; usually simple to treat but not after 7 years.

2. A C5 problem in the lower neck that radiates to via the dorsal scapular nerve to the rhomboids.

3. A first rib subluxation causing a wide variety of strange symptoms but characterised by difficulty working with your hands above your head. It's diagnosed by a simple test that is very difficult to interpret unless one uses it regularly. Adson's test.

I hope this contributes.

Dr B


» » Deep Upper Back Pain




Click here to post comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Chiropractic help Questions (Neck pain).





Did you find this page useful? Then perhaps forward it to a suffering friend. Better still, Tweet or Face Book it.

Share this page:
Enjoy this page? Then forward it to a friend. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.