Conditions: Upper back pain

The upper back merges many functions into one region of the spine. It houses the rib cage which protects our vital organs and assists in breathing, while also being the foundation of good shoulder movement. When the thoracic spine (upper back) is inflexible, too straight as with military neck, or hunched forward as with tech neck the surrounding areas need to make up for the lack of motion which puts them through more wear and tear.

Restricted movement in the upper back can make it difficult to get a full breath, make bad posture more comfortable, in addition to causing pain. Chiropractic adjustments to the upper back restore that motion and make good posture feel more natural. 

A good way to tell if your back is restricted is to raise your arms straight overhead as if you’re hanging from a pull up bar. If you feel any difficulty raising your arms or pinching in one or both shoulders at the top of the motion you likely have restriction in your upper back and ribs. 

A particularly common cause of upper back pain is actually facet joint irritation in the neck radiating into the upper back. The best treatment for most presentations of this condition is adjustments to restore proper motion to the facet and rehab exercises to maintain that motion and prevent future injury. 

Page 7 of this article shows a map of areas of pain that correspond to a specific facet in your neck.

Consensus practice guidelines on interventions for cervical spine (facet) joint pain from a multispecialty international working group (bmj.com)

Finally, a good exercise to increase and maintain upper back mobility is thread the needle and cat cow. You can expect a noticeable change with 10 reps of each daily for 2-3 weeks. 

Thread the Needle

Cat Cow