Sharp Pain Between Shoulder Blades

When you experience sharp pain that is occurring between shoulder blades, it can begin to trouble you, especially if it doesn’t subside. Otherwise referred to as interscapular pain, the pain between a person’s shoulder blades may have different causes. The pain can be due to something little like a muscle strain or it can be as a result of a serious health issue like a heart attack or even lung cancer. When the body feels painful, it’s a way of letting a person know that there is something wrong with their body. Proper examination and diagnosis is needed to help rule out any possibility of a serious condition.

It is important to understand the structures found between a person’s shoulder blades. In this region of the body, there is skin, muscles like rhomboids and trapezium that help the shoulder blades to move back and down. There is also the thoracic spine and thoracic aorta. Other structures in that body region are the esophagus, part of the lungs, and part of the heart. If any the structures in this body area are affected, pain may be felt between shoulder blades. It is also possible that effects on distance areas can induce pain between shoulder blades because nerves transmit it. This happens when structures in other areas are impacted and the pain radiates toward the shoulder region. The transmitted pain or radiating pain is often termed as referred pain

Causes

Different things can induce pain between an individual’s shoulder blades and they include:

Poor posture: This is among the common causes of pain occurring between your shoulder blades. Poor posture can arise when you work in same position for extended duration. Whether you are standing or sitting, it doesn’t matter, if you do it for long hours, it will cause postural problems. You at least need to have breaks. Sometimes, you may feel comfortable in a particular posture, but what you may not realize it that the posture you are in isn’t normal and is straining the body. Posture also affects your internal organs, so if you don’t pay attention to it, you may have problems.

Flu and colds: It’s possible for flu or cold to cause pain that is felt between shoulder blades. When you have conditions that present with symptoms like fever, coughing, nasal congestion, and body weakness, you may also be likely to have pain occurring in different body areas include shoulder blades.

Muscle strain: When you have muscle strain, it can result in pain within the area between shoulder blades. Muscle strains can arise from poor posture, excessive lifting, sleeping on a misaligned or poor mattress, and engaging in activities that involve twisting like tennis and golf.

Trauma: An injury in your body can cause rotator cuff tears or acromioclavicular joint separation that can trigger pain in the area between shoulder blades. You may want to know that a shoulder separation is quite different from a dislocation that tends to be felt mainly on shoulder joints.

Arthritis: In people who suffer from arthritis affecting their neck or the ribs, it can bring about interscapular pain. Arthritis in a person’s neck can cause pain between shoulder blades. This can occur even when you don’t feel any pain in the neck itself.

Herniated disc: Having bulging or herniated disc, which is a degenerative disease affecting the thoracic spine and cervical spine can induce pain that radiates to the shoulder areas including the area between a person’s shoulder blades. People who have disc disease may experience pain in their body areas. This is something that can result in poor or delayed diagnosis. A person having herniated disc may also experience tingling and numbness or pain affecting one or both arms. An individual may also have positional pain when they have disc disease within the neck, for example, the pain may get worse when you flex or even improve.

Heart attack: Having heart attacks may not always start with pain occurring in the chest, particularly in women. Some people may have the pain occurring within the region between shoulder blades. The pain nags and may come along with other symptoms like shortness of breath, chest pain, and lightheadedness. In women, symptoms of heart attack can be vague and atypical, usually differing with those in men. This is one reason why there is an increase in death rates among women who experience heart attack than in men.

Gallbladder disease: A gallbladder that is diseased may induce pain that radiates to reach the shoulder blade areas. The referred or radiating pain feels stabbing to the area between the person’s shoulder blades.

Acid reflux: When you have gastroesophageal reflux disease, it may trigger pain that radiates to the area between shoulder blades. A person experiencing acid reflux will have symptoms like chest pain, difficulty swallowing, and hoarseness. If not treated, gastroesophageal reflux disease can eventually cause strictures as well as esophageal cancer.

Cancer: It’s possible for lung cancer and in particular pancoast tumor to cause pain in the region between an individual’s shoulder blades. The pain occurs because the tumor pushes the nerves located near the upper areas of the lungs. Besides lung cancer, there are also other cancers that may induce pain in the area and they include lymphomas, mesotheliomas, esophageal cancer, and liver cancer. Similarly, cancers that metastasize to bones within the neck like breast cancer can induce the pain, even at times without showing other symptoms.

Nerve entrapment: When you experience nerve entrapment as witnessed in myofascial pain syndrome involving the rhomboids, it can trigger pain that is felt in the region between a person’s shoulder blades.

Pulmonary embolism: This occurs when clots occurring in the legs break off and move towards the lungs. Usually, the pain is sudden during onset. It is also sharp and can come with severe shortness of breath. Sometimes, people only have mild discomfort. Pulmonary embolism is preceded by signs and symptoms of having blood clots in legs like redness, pain, and swelling.

Compressed nerve: When the nerves are compressed, you may have pain in the location between shoulder blades. The pain may radiate to reach other parts like the arms. At times, you may have the pain even when there isn’t nerve compression. This can occur when the back is exposed to cold or strong wind and low temperatures. The exposure to these elements causes the nerve have inflammation.

Other possible causes of pain that occurs between shoulder blades are:

• Frozen shoulder resulting from lack of synovial fluid within the shoulder joints
• Spinal stenosis, a condition in which there is narrowing of the spinal canal
• Fracture of the backbones
• Shingles, a condition caused by a virus can affect nerve roots thus causing pain in different parts of an individual’s body.

Symptoms of Pain Between Shoulder Blades

The pain you experience in the area between shoulder blades may come in different forms. It can be sharp and acute meaning that you have short bursts of pain that is stubbing. Sometimes, the pain may be dull. A person may have chronic dull pain that may be weak or strong. The pain may also be localized or felt in specific areas. You could also be having pain that radiates or is referred meaning it spreads to other body parts like the arms.

Always have a diary where you take note of what kind of pain you are having and how it is manifesting. Indicate the days you feel it and the days it subsides. This can later help in diagnosis. Also note the intensity of the pain using a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 indicates the mildest pain and 10 indicates the most intense pain.

When It becomes a Medical Emergency

While some causes of pain in the location between shoulder blades may not be serious, others can actually be life-threatening. You may want to watch out for the symptoms you are having along with the pain. For example, if you have chest pain, shortness of breath, as well as lightheadedness or if you are having ‘gut feeling’ like something is wrong with the body, it is important you seek immediate medical help.

Heart attacks or myocardial infarctions can present with pain between shoulder blades and other symptoms like chest pain and shortness of breath. Pulmonary embolism involving clotting of blood in the legs that break off to move to the lungs can also be a life threatening condition.

Sharp Pain Between Shoulder Blades – Treatment

Different treatment approaches are employed depending on the cause, severity of the pain, and accompanying symptoms. Message therapy may be applied to help release tension that is occurring in muscles. Chiropractic therapy helps heal irritated or damaged joints.

If the pain is resulting from poor posture, improving your posture can help relieve it. Make sure you use comfortable chairs when you sit. Sit on chairs that are angled slightly downwards. Also have the wrists raised. If you use a computer, ensure the monitor is positioned in a way that it’s slightly lower than the eyes’ level. When sitting, ensure the knees bend at 90 degrees. The lumbar support of the chair needs to maintain the back’s natural curve and the feet should be touching the floor. Also, have breaks after every 45 minutes of sitting and take that time to move around. This will ensure that blood circulates in areas it may have been impaired and that the posture doesn’t bring trouble. Stretch yourself even when sitting as these exercises can help reduce complications associated with poor posture.

When standing avoid poor posture like head being protruded forward and shoulders being retracted or even protruded forward.

Other treatment options will largely be depended on the underlying cause for the pain between shoulder blades. Sometimes, the pain can even dissipate without you doing anything, however, if it comes back, consider seeing a physician.