Can anxiety cause pain between shoulder blades?

Do you often feel like your anxiety is weighing heavy on your shoulders? Well, it turns out that’s not just a figure of speech – anxiety can actually cause pain between shoulder blades! In this article, we’ll explore the connection between anxiety and back pain, why it happens, and what you can do about it. So sit back (or stand up straight) and let’s get started!

What Causes Back Pain?

Before we dive into how anxiety specifically affects back pain, let’s take a quick look at what causes back pain in general. Your spine is full of nerves that send signals to various parts of your body. If those nerves become compressed or irritated for any reason – whether due to injury, poor posture, or something else entirely – they can generate pain signals.

There are countless different factors that can contribute to back pain: everything from strained muscles to herniated discs to osteoporosis. Because the causes are so varied and complex, it’s important to pay attention to your specific symptoms and work with a healthcare provider if necessary.

The Link Between Anxiety And Back Pain

Now let’s talk about how anxiety enters the equation. When you’re feeling anxious or stressed out,your body releases stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. These hormones trigger a “fight or flight” response that raises your heart rate, makes you breathe faster, tenses up your muscles…and taxes your entire system.

In particular,the tense state caused by heightened emotions tends to make its way into muscle tension, which may give rise pains throughout one’s body including places as far apart as headwatering headaches through neck strains all the way down to muscle groups in thighs which holds many bodily functions almost entirely debilitating normal day-to-day functioning.

This constant tension has several effects on the musculoskeletal system: first off,it kinda feels like every nerve cell might have picked their bag and migrated to your shoulder blades. Secondly, a state of muscle contraction for some time fuels the development of tiny ‘knots’ in the muscles called trigger points, which can cause discomfort or pain referring to other areas/points on your body where they are not even located – this is medically known as “referred pain.”

As these knots become more numerous and intense over time you might feel sharp stabbing painful twinges deep under those two columns between your spine and shoulders.

So while anxiety alone isn’t going to give you herniated discs or spinal fractures, it certainly has the potential to create a lot of tension and discomfort in areas like (surprise!) shoulders and head.

What Can You Do About It?

So what’s a person with anxious shoulder blade pain supposed to do? Here are several strategies that may help relieve symptoms:

Focus On Relaxation

The first step is obvious: try actively aiming for relaxation! Whether you engage in mindfulness activities such as meditation,yoga or Pilate practices,focused breathing exercises, soothing music playback many times.. use any %1 chemical achieving method just by choosing an activity type that resonates with you. Reducing overall generalized anxiety may take some effort but paired up with good resting routines will get you started in right direction. Lowering overall muscular tension also goes a long way towards reducing back pain.

Stretch Regularly

If certain back muscles have remained taut then stretching should be integrated into daily schedules.A daily 10-15minute low intensity stretch routine specifically geared towards upper torso region including forearm parts will lead to better recovery rates by promoting blood flow,releasing trapped nerves among other physiological benefits.

Having someone accompany otherwise solo sessions also stimulates proper form application aiding faster relaxed positions achievement without errors leading post workout soreness(aka DOMS).

Here’s an example routine:
|Stretch Name | How-To |
|–|–|
|Chest Stretch |Stand with your feet at shoulder width apart, place one hand on a desk or wall. Take the other arm, bend it and bring it behind the back by hooking fingers onto objects in order to hold or perhaps finger trapping one’s self, this stretches muscles along pectorals including arms and shoulders which also benefits posture improvement.|
|Shoulder Blade Squeeze |To ease pressure,tense and tighten back muscles while sitting up straight,pull/pinch shoulder blades down as you squeeze them towards center of body holding position for about 20 seconds before releasing stretch gently till comfortable relaxation is achieved.|
|Cat-Cow Pose (Upper Back And Shoulders) | Start off on all fours preferably placed on yoga mat then slowly hunch your upper spine upwards through exhaling,follow up slowly curving whole spine downwards(aka cat-cow repetition). This coupled twice dayily will help release any pent-up tension between right around where that pain is radiating..Also benefiting neck regions with small rotations being introduced along the way.|

Exercise Regularly

While certain exercises to avoid likely existing injuries,and others pose long-lasting reduction in anxiety levels,you might want ensuring types off exercise are carefully picked/navigated so improved general well-being can be guaranteed.

High intensity regimens like cardio work,strenuous weightlifting may promote more stress than actual recovery leads to,because they stimulate further secretion of cortisol,rather toning things down.It would be wise during such instances combining a few relaxation options mid routine instead.

Yoga works perfectly for both muscle strain relief,targeted region open ups ,and overall relaxing activity.Swimming aids relaxed mobility boosting while pregnant women could benefit from low-intensity ball dancing classes due to an increase of femoral angle thereby avoiding pelvic girdle syndrome(That’s supposedly pain over extended zones touching hip joint pathways.).

(NOTE:Before starting any new exercise program,intensive or otherwise, ensure speaking with a physical therapist or doctor beforehand if unsure of activity effects.)

Medical Intervention

If anxiety is something you’ve been struggling with for several months already ,then its best to seek medical assistance.

First off,it’s important getting yourself well-informed on potentially available options ranging from seeking help at your primary care physician’s office to addressing how parts of the sympathetic nervous system have got into overdrive raising cortisol levels in the first instance. Medications targeted towards strictly suppressing Anxiety symptoms and encouraging nerve relaxation signals are great interventions especially when paired up with talk therapy sessions with trained psychiatric counselors.

In Summary:

Anxiety can indeed cause pain between shoulder blades due to a complex relationship/muscle having strong contractions however there are multiple ways one could address and reduce these symptoms through corrective action;
Relaxation – providing time where specifically chilling-out whilst not being stressed out becomes priority
Stretching- aimed mostly at increasing blood flow,releasing trapped nerves
Exercise- geared towards reducing anxiety without exacerbating existing muscular injuries.
Medical intervention -when all other methods appear fruitless,seeking professional qualified assist is always an option.

Random Posts