I have knots in my shoulders, and behind my shoulder blades. I work in an office and do a lot of data entry, so I’m sure that is the culprit.

I go to the chiropractor 2x a month, and get a massage about once a month.
It feels good, but an hour is not even close to the amount of time it would take to get all the knots out. Even my massage therapist said that she could work on me for 2 hours, and it wouldn’t be enough!! ugh….
She also mentioned the tennis ball therapy, but I haven’t tried it yet.
She did tell me DO NOT use a golf ball. It is too hard, and will not help.

I use an ice pack, which feels good, and helps with inflamation.
I also get massages from my husband and a coworker. It seems a bunch of us ladies at work carry our stress in our shoulders. We all have knots in the same place.

I wish I could get permanent relief from my pain. I am so “locked up” right now. My neck, shoulders, and even my elbow & wrist hurt.
Hopefully someday I’ll be pain free.

I’m 23 years old and I’ve had these knots in my shoulders for about the past ten years! The pain is constant and never goes away. Massages feel amazing, but once its over, the pain comes back in a few hours! My friends don’t understand the pain, so I hate nagging them for massages all of the time. Whenever someone gives me a massage, they’re always really weirded and grossed out by the knots because they aren’t normal. There are SO many of them. My friends say they feel like they’re massaging bubble wrap out of my shoulders. I plan on getting a deep tissue massage soon, and hopefully whoever does it will have some advice about these knots. I feel like I can never relax and the tension just sends more and more knots to my shoulders.

I too have had shoulder knots for years. Have had regular massage every 3-4 weeks, but pain would always return. A few years ago I visited a physiotherapist who also was an osteopath. He did sacral cranial therapy for 3 time a week for about a month and then I was better! I recommended him to loads of people and they all had great improvements too. After a few years, the pain has now come back (more knots have built up because I hold my stress there) but that physiotherarapist has moved accross the country. I found a massage therapist who did sacral cranio therapy and he was great but my insurance wouldn’t pay for it more than once a month so the “therapy” aspect of it wasn’t taking effect and any benefits would dissappear after a few days. Now I’m seeing another physiotherapist because of some knee surgery I had and mentioned the knots to him. He showed me how to use the hooked end of a cane to dig into the knot and pull down to put pressure on the knot. He said something about the neurotransmitters which have formed the knot need to be broken up and to just keep putting pressure on the knots until they break up. He said it’ll hurt like crazy right before the knot loosens (it does) but then feels so good when the knot breaks up a little (it does). I’ve been using this method a short time and been feeling a great relief already. I’m still going to look for an osteopath to look at it too, but I don’t have medical benefits right now to help pay for it so the cane will have to do for now. Try getting advice from a physiotherapist for any of your knots.

I have what my therapist calls lactic acid knots on my upper arms ..My arms hurt like crazy..she says that with regular massage they will break up and go away..so I have been seing her 2 times a week and she says my right arms have lost alot of the knots and I am 59 years old ..So I am a firm believer in massage it works….

I’ve had terrible knots in my right shoulder for years. I think I have a pinched nerve, but have never been diagnosed. I got into a car accident in 1989 and got lateral whiplash and never got proper treatment, so I’ve consistently had neck and shoulder pain (mostly in my right side).

I am left handed, so I don’t think that has anything to do with it. But I sit at a desk all day looking at a computer screen all day and I think sometimes, that aggravates it alot.

I have used Soma and that helps relieve the tension (and relax the muscles), but the only thing that has helped me, is massaging the knots out.

Also, just an idea for those that don’t have someone to do massage all the time, on of the masseuses I went to, recommended using a tennis ball. If you lie on the ground or lean against a wall, you can work that ball on your knots and it does wonders. A golf ball works as well.

I have TERRIBLE knots in my upper back/shoulder area. Especially on my left, inside shoulder. When rubbed, the knot makes a very loud ‘popping’ sound. Massages feel great - but nothing has been able to get rid of these knots or the sounds. I am only 22 years old and I’ve had these pains since I was 16. I have felt other knots - but mine seem harder than anyone elses. They feel like a solid. I don’t know what I can do to make it better. I get headaches almost on a daily basis now and am always in pain. Can some PLEASE offer some explanations or advice? :(

Loz,

I’ve been Google-ing “upper back pain” “shoulder blade pain” and “agony” every chance I get lately and I’m amazed that almost

every single artical is geared at “lower back pain” and “sciatica” to the point that I’ve wondered if I was the only person

in the world to have this pain. Luckily I stumbled across your post (under a forum about knots no less) and you describe the

EXACT same thing that happens to me. “Agony” and “Excruciating” are the only two words that come close to describing this

pain… I’ve never been stabbed in the back either, but I’d have to guess it’s less painfull than this! It’s more like a

searing white-hot knife in the back pain.

I was about 12 or 13 when I got my first taste of this pain (I’m 37 now). When I was a kid I would lay on my side with one

elbow down propping up my head to watch TV (on this particular day it was my right elbow). I was watching TV on the couch -

time to get up and go to school - BANG - wind knocked out of me style pain. I would have cried out but it hurt to much for

that so I was basically paralized. Luckily my mother recognized the look of fear on my face and realized I wasn’t just trying

to cop a sick day home from school.

I still get bouts of this pain. Once every year or two it goes “bye-bye” and I’m bedridden for a day or two (all the while

wondering if this will be the time that it goes out forever). Bedridden to the point that standing up to go to the bathroom

is an act of superhuman effort - the weight of gravity on my back seems waayyy tooo heavy. Luckily, these bouts never last

longer than that. Unfourtunately, more and more latley it’s been feeling “on the verge” to the point that I worry that it’s

about to go out again (and this’ll stop you from going camping or taking a long motorcycle ride because the LAST thing I want

is to become debilitated far from home). It’s pretty brutal, and the lack of knowledge/understading even on the entire

internet is a little disappointing. I once struggled to get myself to an emergency room to see if they could catch what was

going on - if you want to sit in an emergency room for 6 hours try telling them you have upper back pain (the friut of my

labor was 2 Tylenol and a “go home and lay down”). I’ve asked a couple of doctors for MRI’s and they basically roll their

eyes and say something about how much it’s going to cost me out of pocket etc…

Anyhow - I’ll give you a thing that sometimes helps alleviate some pressure - slide your hands up from your lower back (knuckles toward your back) like you were going to illustrate a clucking chicken or something > I place the palm of my right hand over the knuckles of my left hand (so my back touches the right-hand knuckles - my right hand palm covers my left-hand knuckles) I move them up behind my back to right between my shoulder blades (if you can do this comfortably) then I lean back against a low wall, the kitchen counter, or whatever’s at a manageable height and if my hands are in the right neiborhood it usually pushes my chest out a little and produces at least one little pop which loosens me up a bit. Sometimes making a fist with the outer hand (not the one in contact with your back) helps. People tell me it’s probably bad to do, but belive me it’s warded off more than a couple of episodes. You can do this laying flat on your back on the floor (come to think of it, try the laying down one first) or seated (a low back office chair works - maybe try this one second) the standing and leaning one may be the “advanced” method…

If your support team ever gets to the bottom of this - please post your results here or somewhere on the net. Or e-mail.

Good luck!

superid33@hotmail.com

hi,

i’ve been having some pain in my shoulder and chest area. the dr prescribed muscle relaxers and it did not work. just yesterday i went back to another dr… from the emergency room and he happened.. thank GOD to be an orthopedic. he found that i had a dislocated rib… he pussed it back in place and i feel a lot better. he did snap out a lot of tension by popping all sorts of bones… it was good.

Oh thanks for all the advice, i think that i’m going to go and get it looked at at my mum’s chiropractor. Hopefully it wont be too serious, thats freaked me out a little bit hehe! Again thanks for the help.

Dear Loz:

It sounds like you should have x-rays (or even better an MRI) to help diagnose your situation.
From your description there could be a variety of things causing this: 1.)Dislocated Rib - Ribs can dislocate fairly easily (sneezing, coughing) and most often can only be manipulated back into place by force (find a good chiropractor). The fact that it hurts you to breathe is a very good indication of this. It is not serious but does need to be attended to. 2.)You could have a herniated disc (in the cervical or upper thorasic spine). This is harder to take care of and may require surgery. Other treatments are doses of chortozone (steroid) shots to the infected area, ice, traction, and proper stretches and exercises to help strengthen and support the affected disc. 3.) You could have pinched a nerve. This usually goes in conjunction with a herniated disc. The inflamation in the disc can compress on a nerve and certain movements of your body only make it worse. Nerves are very sensitive and if even brushed the wrong way by an out of place joint will cause the muscles in the surrounding area to go into spasm. AGAIN - your best bet is getting an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). They are expensive - if you get one make sure you get a copy for your records (it’s your right) so you can take it to a few different doctors for different opinions. And I cannot stress this enough….Surgery is the last option! Get a MINIMUM of three professional opinions before you even consider surgery. No matter how convincing one doctor may seem…..get more opinions. Hope this helps…..best of luck to you!