Shoulder Blade Pain: Common Causes & How to Manage

Shoulder blade pain is a very painful and really disabling issue. Patients will lose a lot more important things in their lives for instance spending time together with family and friends, sports, works and other things that make life worthwhile. The symptom is different for everyone but the most obvious symptom is pain, pain in shoulder blade may be dull, cramping, throbbing, sharp, burning, or a variety of other adjectives. The area can be swollen, weak, oddly colored, or numb.

Possible Causes

There are lots of typical daily activities we take part in that may have an impact on our shoulder blade pain. The pain might be sourced from inflammation of the tissues or tendons surrounding the scapula or the shoulder blade. Muscles may become strained from doing everything from moving your whole body incorrectly throughout the day to be hunched over a laptop computer all day. The same case could also apply as regards the tendons and ligaments in the scapula region. The way in which your body is positioned when you are asleep will be the next possibility. Constantly remember waking up and feeling like a person hit your shoulder with a hammer? That may have been from bad alignment during sleep. This subsequent reason for the pain is one we can all relate to. Being tense and stressed, can really wrench your entire body up tight.

Mild pain in shoulder blade could also be simple illness from the flu or perhaps a severe cold. This is usually because of body aches and pains caused by inflammation connected with illnesses and viruses. This pain typically disappear shortly after the illness itself does, but to help alleviate them more quickly, try using hot compresses or a cooling and heating gel.

Shoulder blade pain while breathing, is often connected with some lung problems, like infections etc. Thus, smokers and people who suffer from lung collapse tend to experience this discomfort .

This condition should not be ignored because it can make you feel hard to concentrate on daily tasks.

Pain Under Left Shoulder Blade

The most frequent causes of pain under left shoulder blade are damage to the muscles and joints of the shoulder or neck vertebrae. However, in rare cases, it may signal a warning that the pain is not in the shoulder itself, but can be related to a pain from one of the organs in the body. The shoulder where the pain occurs can give the clue which of the organs are affected and causing the radiating pain into the shoulder. It can be a signal that there is a problem with the stomach or in the chest. So if this is continuing you should get it checked.

Common Possible Causes:

Acute pain – A dislocated shoulder may radiate to the shoulder blade. Tendinitis affecting a tendon area scapular (scapular area is the area of The body including the shoulder, shoulder blade and neck) in exceptional cases a heart problem or internal bleeding can be signaled by pain level of the scapula. Sudden pain, acute traumatic cause and without identifiable (a fall, sudden movement) should lead you to consult a doctor urgently.

Chronic Pain – Arthritis: inflammation of the shoulder joint and shoulder area will radiate to the shoulder blade and cause chronic pain which can become intense in the later stages of the disease.

Heart Conditions – The pain can often be a sign of an impending heart attack; especially if the pain is also located in the area of the chest and also radiates into the back. The pericardium is the thin lining that encases the heart. Pericarditis is denoted by an inflammation of the pericardium lining. The symptoms of pericarditis often include pain under the left shoulder blade.

The Lungs – Many varieties of lung problems can cause this type of pain, including disorders of the airways such as asthma or bronchitis, infection of the lungs (pneumonia), and inflammation of the lining of the lungs (pleuritis, or pleurisy). Severe chest pains that radiate to the shoulder blades can be caused by this condition.

Medical Examinations

The doctors will first ask you to make typical movements that will allow it to assess the degree of mobility of the shoulder and to estimate with greater precision the affected area. It can then be prescribed to you, in some cases, medical imaging examinations such as MRI of the thorax a radio that will permit a definitive diagnosis.

It is essential to remove the possibility of a grave and urgent reason. In case of persistent pain, it is imperative to consult a doctor.

Right Shoulder Blade Pain

Pain under the right shoulder blade may be caused by many conditions. The shoulder blade is a mobile, triangular bone that’s protected by a complex surrounding muscles system. It may causes pain by itself, or other tissues or structures that send pain to that particular area. The pain can be mild, moderate or severe.

Diagnose

Sometimes you need a number of diagnostic tests to assess the damage to the shoulder. X-rays can display fractures, breaks along with other abnormalities of the shoulder bones .Doctors can see the soft tissues of the shoulder joint, along with the bones through MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) or CT (computerized tomography) scan .Electromyogram (EMG) can test nerve damage . Sometimes, right shoulder pain is the result of referred pain. Doctors will take a look at other body systems as well.

Treatment

Both you and your healthcare professional can discuss the appropriate treatments after you have found the reason for your shoulder pain . Pain that involved the shoulder itself is going to be addressed directly. Most often you can choose non-invasive treatment options. Non-surgical treatment includes rest from exasperating activities or utilization of a sling to sustain the shoulder; easy exercise or physiotherapy to improve muscle strength and flexibility; medications such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen, to alleviate inflammation and pain; or perhaps a corticosteroid injection in to the painful region to reduce inflammation.

Some conditions that manifest themselves through shoulder pain may need surgery. Arthroscopy surgery is a popular procedure. This type of surgery uses very small incisions and tiny instruments to identify issues that might not be acquired through routine testing. There are other situations in which conventional open surgery may be required to end shoulder pain.

Pain Between Shoulder Blades

Common causes of this condition including:

Tendonitis – The tendons in the shoulder become inflamed. Since they join the muscle to the bone, they cause the upper back pain that you experience with tendonitis.

Wrong Posture – After years of sleeping in the wrong position or sitting the wrong way, you can find yourself in a lot of pain. It isn’t easy to change a bad habit like that.

Heart Disease – Having pain in your shoulder or upper back is one of the signs of having a heart attack. Having chest pain can easily lead to pain in your shoulder blades.

Excessive Stress – Whether it is physical or more psychological, living a stressful life will increase your chance of feeling pain in that area. A lot of people who are depressed also complain about having a bad backache.

Arthritis and Osteoporosis – A lot of these occur when people hit an older age. It is something to be on the look for as you are growing older.

Treatment options

If you are experiencing this type of pain, the best thing to do is talk to your doctor. They will be able to let you know what you can do about it. If it isn’t too serious, they might recommend different exercising to have you try.

In other cases they will prescribe pain medication. Sometimes you will just have to take it when you feel the pain coming on. Other times you will have to take it 24/7. It depends on your pain level and what your doctor recommends.

It is important to try to figure out why you have the pain that you do. Once you know why then you can figure out how to change your lifestyle to avoid it in the future. For example, if stress is the reason then you need to figure out how to live a less stressful life.

Back pain can be very limiting. With help you can get back to your normal life. You do not have to live with the pain forever.

How to Relieve Shoulder Blade Pain

  1. First of all, you should pause for some time when you are suffering from this pain and consider your everyday activities and sitting posture. From this you can find whether there’s something that should be changed in your day-to-day activities.
  2. When you’ve got experienced an external injury and there’s a sign of inflammation, then you can put an icepack on the shoulder blade about 3 times a day, this may help you feel comfortable.
  3. Additionally keeps a check on your diet plan. Additional a diet rich in proteins and carbohydrates is helpful for building up the muscles in your body. It will also be useful in repairing damaged tissues .
  4. Recently, the use of magnetic energy, in conjunction with low vibration therapy, indicates to be highly effective in addressing the problem of such pain in addition to chronic pain associated with a range of neuromuscular issues. These remedies are completely safe and have no unwanted effects – so they are well worth investigating if you are seeking healthier options to pharmaceutical chemicals.
  5. In order to relieve this pain, obese people must lose some weight. If the pain is due to a particular underlying cause, like gallbladder disease, then it should be treated properly and the painful symptom will appear reduced by itself.