Recently, we made a YouTube video that talks about why you may continue to feel this knot, located right between your shoulder blade and spine on your back:
If you’ve ever had that knot right between your shoulder blade and your spine, you know how irritating it can be to manage. It’s that tight muscle in the back of your neck that can’t seem to go away, even with constantly rubbing that area. No matter what you do, you feel as if it keeps coming back, and can’t seem to understand why. Typically, that is because the problem isn’t usually in that exact area.
That “knot” within the area of your neck and shoulders is usually a result of a persistent muscle cramp, in which the muscle fibers are tightened or contracted. Typically, this “knot” feels like a literal bump, and can cause tenderness, tightness, and headaches. This “knot” can form just about anywhere, but the most common areas are the back of the neck, base of your skull, and side of your neck.
More often than not, this pain is being caused by stiffness or irritation in the neck or shoulders. But regardless of the location of pain, your muscles are basically being overworked, and are trying to protect these areas of discomfort. That is why the “knot” never fully goes away. Unfortunately, what’s happening is that a lot of people are only getting temporary fixes— massage guns, pain medicines, muscle relaxers— instead of truly addressing why these muscles continue to tighten up in the first place.
More specifically, common causes for this “knot” in the area between your shoulder blade and spine could be a result of constant slouching or poor posture, static posture, chronic stress to cause you to constantly slouch or clench your muscles, or even from overusing these muscles through heavy lifting or repetitive activities.
Addressing The Problem
This “knot” can form for a variety of reasons. When addressing the root cause, we have several questions to ask ourselves:
Is our neck moving properly?
Is our upper back really stiff? Why?
What are our movement patterns like?
What is our posture like?
Are we putting too much strain and stress onto these areas of pain?
Could the source be coming from our neck, and not necessarily from our shoulders?
Common self-care treatments could also make a huge difference. Trigger point massage is a great place to start, but it can’t be the end-all-be-all. Correcting your posture is another great place to start, along with taking regular breaks to move your shoulders back and forth. Sometimes, ice or heat can be applied to ease the muscle strain caused around this “knot”. Ice helps with immflamuation, while heat is great for muscle pain and helps to soothe those tense muscles. Stretching regularly can help to loosen those tightened muscles, and relax your body mentally and physically.
Sources:
https://www.hingehealth.com/resources/articles/knot-in-shoulder-blade
https://www.healthline.com/health/knot-in-neck
https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/what-to-know-muscle-knots
If you’ve been experiencing this irritating knot, book a FREE Discovery Visit, so that we can address the issue together! Give us a call at 504-407-3477 to book.
