Is there any treatment or 'trigger points' for pain that radiates across the upper back?

Answer 1

I was in a car wreak 23 years ago, and went to have an exam because I was having some neck pain. They told me I didn’t have any fractures. A few weeks later I noticed my arm and hand had gone numb. I went back to the medics and the diagnosis was “spinal stenosis“ and that I shouldn’t ask anyone to try to fix it. I’ve been living with it but I drop stuff. I tried chiropractic; with no success. I’ve adjusted but it is still a nuisance.

Answer 2

change your diet--- purchase Gary Null dietary lifestyle changing books. A healthy diet repairs most of the body damage. If you continue to eat American foods your body will continue to malfunction. Turn off your television for it is one giant advertisement that speaks the truth only one percent of the time. excersize will replace idol time and quest for knowledge will replace the foolish teases that keep you waiting for useless information on television.

Pain radiates across upper back(dorsal spine) have many trigger points. First pain across upper mosr dorsal spine with some time burning sensation or numbness and amny time gross discoloration od skin is due to local trigger point in the trapezius muscle(just medial to superior and medial uper scapula. In the lower or mid thoracic part it is due to rhomboidus major or minor. But also to lonagissimus cervicic. Many time I have found the trigger points in the supraspinous ligaments causingg pain radiates across the specific vertebra. Treatment is generely straight forward. Slight intermitten digital pressure, compression with ice pack for 5 to 7 minutes and rest for couple of hours or local injections. Injection gives immediate reief and often long lasting some time it can be repeated.(injection of local anaesthesai with triamcinolone acetonide). avoid wiplash injury use seat belt, Do not support upper back against any hard irregular surface like wooden back of bed side. Never massage ith or without any oil or cream!

NEW ANSWER

1. 2 is a good answer [ie, steroid injections]. If you hate going to a doctor, try using a HOMEDIC vibrator [Walmart: about $35.00]... It's rather large & heavy, but the two vibrating heads placed over the sore area really helps the pain by stimulating blood flow and massaging the affected/inflammed muscles & getting them to relax.

See a well trained massage therapist, particularly one that specializes in orthopedic or neuromuscular massage. A chiropractor can also often help.

Alternate ApproachMany times trigger points are a result of underlying spinal problems, and treating them alone is really just a Band-Aid approach. Another option would be to see a skilled physical therapist who specializes in manual therapy. They have much more training in biomechanics and treatment of spinal dysfunction, and can provide long-term solutions rather than temporary "quick fixes."

Another Perspective

I have had two neck surgeries as a result of a treatment from a chiropractor. The disk was herniated and even though I went for a second opinion, his opinion was that my pain was easily treatable. he was wrong and his aggressive approach put me in the hospital and down the road to life-long pain. A peice of the herniated disc broke off (prolapased) and came to rest on the nerve root at C6-C7. I was partially paralyzed on one side for a month and then had the first surgery. Five years I had a second surgery to correct the first one. Aside from gain movement back on my right side the surgeries failed to end the pain.

Part of the pain I have is from numerous trigger points throughout the upper right side of my back. After 14 years I have found only a few treatments that offer relief. The first is trigger-point injections. A pain specialist injects each trigger point with lydocaine or other pain med. The effect from my first injections was just tremendous. The pain relief was great. It only lasted a week or so but it was worth it. I received trigger point injections for the past 10 years or so on a regular basis. When administered in conjunction with pain meds it really is helpful. It would be much nicer if the relief was for a month at a time but any relief is valuable at this point.

Next I have a series of treatments that varied and required me to have to procedures performed in a hospital setting. The first, and the one I still receive are epidurals. Yes the same kind of epidural my wife got when she was delivering our daughter, although the injections are in my neck. This relief is better and longer lasting than the trigger point injections, but they still only last between 2 or 3 weeks at most. Although I have met other patients who said their relief lasted much longer (months).

I have received a facet block as well, which is an injection in a very specific area of the neck called the facet joint. This treatment offered some relief but it didn't last as long as the other treatments. Again, other patients I have met had experienced great success, so I guess it comes down to individual situations.

Another treatment is a nerve block where the doctor injected pain med directly in the nerve that he felt was transmitting the pain from my neck to my upper back. This worked decently but I preferred the epidural and trigger-point injections.

Finally, I have received what's called radio-frequency ablation. It is a procedure where the doctor injects a laser-like device using a similar setup to orthroscopic knee surgery and the nerve suspected of causing the pain is heated using radio waves (like a microwave I guess) and this prevents the treated nerve form transmitting pain signals. The catch is that the correct nerve has to be isolated in order for this treatment to work. In my case it was not successful.

The trigger-point injections are really the most straight-forward and I feel has the most potential for helping a wide range of patients. Good luck with your pain. Don't stop looking for relief, the pain can have a cumulative effect that you don't notice right away but it can disrupt your life much more than you may realize.

All of these are good responses. I would just add that acupuncture is also a big help with the pressure points and can help to elevate pain. Acupressure is another goos source of help. Also look into Cranio-sacral therapy.

Trigger points are not easy to treat. To qualify that, they are easy to treat, the trick is to keep them from returning (more specifically flaring up again). Acupuncture helps, trigger point injections help (steroids are not needed), but trigger points result in muscles that are short and dysfunctional and until the abnormal firing pattern of muscle groups are addressed, the doctor will have a patient who will improve but not really get better. Find a physical therapist who has been trained by Janda or his techniques. Phil Greenman DO from Michigan State was teaching a course for DO's (don't know about PT's) and he has retired, you can call the American Academy of Osteopathy for doc's who do this work. You may need to call a number of PT's who have this training.

Dietary changes will help. I found the blood type diet helpful. Cranial Sacral treatments are beneficial as they help the myofascial burden on the muscles. Smoking, tobacco in general, other toxicities (e.g. pesticides, household chemicals, pesticides) will make this worse and sometimes cleaning up your environment is enough to make them non symptomatic. Be wary of Weightlifting if they are treated or if you have not been trained to lift properly as you can easily ingrain the pattern of dysfunction into the muscles.

A good PT or doc will check your muscle firing patterns in the problem areas and give you exercises to retrain your muscles to fire in the correct sequence. After that the rest is up to the patient, if they aren't willing to exercise, there isn't much you can do long term.