Does your back pain effect your chest?

Yesterday I went to my chiropractor for an issue I've been struggling with going on 3 weeks now (maybe even more).

I first noticed it on a run a while back but thought it was an isolated incident and I really didn't think that it came from running or working out. Even so,  I haven't really done much running since then so I don't know why the pain continued.

I often have a pain in my neck (literally) and it feels like I have a very tight muscle and I can't turn my head all they way to the right side. This comes and goes and I'm not really sure what it comes from. It's always on the same side.

But this time the neck was the least of my worries.  I've been having this pain in my upper back (on the right side) below my shoulder. Any time I yawn, cough, or take a deep breath I can feel the pain in my chest.   I feel so cramped up and have been having Scott crack my back and shoulders every night and believe me, it all cracks!

After feeling this way all week at Disney, I finally made a Chiro appointment which was yesterday.

I told the Dr. what was wrong and as he sized me up, he could tell right away my neck was out of alignment and with one quick whip of the neck he cracked it into place! Wow, I did not see that coming.

Next, I was hooked up to the muscle stimulation machine which I've used before when I would come in for my hip and ITband. I can't say I exactly like this feeling.  If you've never used this machine before, it's electro pads they put on your skin and then its like a million spiders crawling around on your skin in order to stimulated your muscles. It doesn't hurt but sometimes the intensity can be too much and it is uncomfortable.

He then worked on my back and it did feel like every muscle in my body was cracking. It felt refreshing.  When I left there I felt okay but he said if I still feel problems to come back again on Friday.

Not more than an hour later, I felt the same thing. My neck doesn't hurt. but I have the same exact pain below my shoulder and I can feel pain in my chest when I breath, yawn, sneeze or cough.  I told one of my friends about this and she knew exactly what I was talking about and even explained the exact feeling to me before I even told her everything I was feeling. She has felt like this before.

I really don't want to go back to the Chiro on Friday because I'm not sure what more he will do for me other than what he already did. I'm hoping that he at least loosened something up maybe and it will work itself out over the next few days.  -M

Have you ever had this feeling? If so, what does it come from?

Healing Back and Shoulder Pain.

When I went to bed on Sunday night I was in excruciating pain. My upper back and left shoulder were in pain ( more of my shoulder at this point). Over the weekend I had felt achy and felt as though I just needed my back cracked and I would be okay. Ever felt that way? But that wasn't the case. The pain continued. It felt as though my arm and shoulder were bruised ( although they weren't) and I couldn't remember doing anything that would have resulted in this pain.

So in an effort to see if I could "fix" the pain. I resorted to these tools.

I did some back exercises on the yoga ball and it actually felt quite good, but did not "fix" what was wrong. I then thought a good massage with theses other tools might hit the spot, but I was wrong. Using those tools was quite painful ( but then again I think they are suppose to be. Does that mean it was working?)

I then resorted to putting a heating pad on it. That gave me enough relief that I could fall asleep for the night.
When I woke up on Monday I thought maybe the heating pad had done the trick, but with in a few minutes of being awake, the pain persisted. I then slathered on the Bio Freeze to see what that would do.
My afternoon then consisted of sitting with the back massager. This was probably the greatest relief I had found ( although it was only temporary).

This massager by Dr. Scholl's has several settings. It targets two areas, upper and lower back. Since it has a remote, you can set it so both areas are being massaged at the same time, or just one of them.  you can also set it to have the roller balls move up and down your back,  have a vibrating type motion, or both. I prefer the roller ball motion.  It is like the shiatsu massager. Having that rolling motion dig into my shoulder gave me the most relief without being painful.


This was my buddy for most of the afternoon. He sat beside me while I massaged and watched repeats of Grey's Anatomy. Life Time was playing the very first episode of Greys. They all looked so young, and aww, to see George again!

Because he's not a Labrador, this guy hasn't been properly introduced, but he is part of the family.  We'll get to him in a later post!

SO, My question today is: Have you ever had such shoulder pain? If so, what did you try ( before going to the doctor)? My shoulder pain is actually moving down my arm too.

Thanks for any advice you have ~M