Bizarre upper back shoulder discomfort.

[markkuether]

I have recently started working out again for the first time in over a year. I have been doing weightlifting both upper and lower body for about 3 months.

Recently I have developed some pain and discomfort in my upper back / right scapula area. I am trying to determine what caused this and how to treat it. No specific motion in my arm or shoulder seems to make it worse. What DOES make it worse however is when there is a higher amount of pressure on that area. For example when I am lying on my back in bed, or especially when I am sitting in my truck driving to work. Sometimes the middle of my back between the shoulder blades feels "tight" instead. And even sometimes I swear the pain on my right side jumps to the left side instead. Weird.

I do not believe there was single moment where trauma happened to my shoulder / back, but got worse when I started doing more upper back an shoulder exercises. I am not exactly sure what is “wrong” or how to treat this. I have been using Advil, some heat, and some ice. It would really help to know exactly what is wrong so I can treat it properly. Any ideas?

[Heidi]

How long have you been back at training?
Pains in this area are reasonably common in weight trainers and are usually down to poor posture or bad form (or both). Overworking the chest muscles is a big cause. Tight chest muscles pull the shoulder joint forwards, leaving the back and posterior shoulder muscles trying to counteract this pull and having to work harder over a long period - which they are not used to.
I would take some time off training (even if it doesn't hurt at the time), concentrate on stretching all upper body muscles and maybe get a couple of massages. Get a professional to look at your posture too and then work on correcting any postural problems before returning to heavy weights./

[markkuether]

To describe in more detail in where I am feeling the pain, its mostly at the horizontal level of the bottom point of the scapula. Sometimes the pain is all the way on the side under my arm or it is sometimes very near my spine at the same level, and sometimes just half way between. Not sure why it seems to jump around, but definitely putting pressure on my back like sitting in a car, or moving my arm forward for extended periods makes it worse. It definitely feels like something could be pulling on something. I did have one chiropractor appointment last week but it didnt seem to solve anything.