Shoulder blade pain
The cause of the shoulder blade pain are normally not clear. The pain can be a sign of heart attack, lung cancer, sleep wrongly or poor posture when sitting down. Other symptom include degenerative disc disease, arthritis, gallbladder disease, or even shingles. What can you know if you are experiencing pain in the region of your shoulder blades (your scapulae).
Possible Causes
Pain in the shoulder blades can be due to inflammation or trauma to the shoulder area itself, over use of the muscles in the area or may instead be due to referred pain from other regions in the chest and abdomen. Because of this, pain experienced in this area can be something as simple as a mild muscle strain, or as serious as a heart or lung condition or cancer.
Musculoskeletal Condition
The most common cause of shoulder blade pain is due to overuse of the muscle. Long term overuse of your hand and upper body may experience tightness in your scapula. Sometimes this condition will also effect some other muscle group, such as shoulder or back together with the feeling on the shoulder blade. Sleep in a wrong position can cause Shoulder blade pain.
Bone and Joint Causes
Bone problem from a fracture shoulder blade is not common in life because its one of the bone in our body that are very difficult to be fractured. Yet again its still possible for us to fracture our scapula,by then when the pain comes we might have forget what happens. The causes are usually a bad fall or involve in a high speed vehicle accident, the trauma must be so bad that it put pressure on the shoulder blade till it fractured.
Compression of nerve in the neck joint may result to pain on the shoulder blade. Normally its due to collapsed disc or spinal stenosis that compressed the nerve in the region. You will feel pain in the shoulder blade together with numbness and tingling down all the way to your fingers.
Diagnosis
Doctor will normally begin with checking on the history and physical exam. Some shoulder blade pain can be diagnosed through our history but then again, physical exam still need to be dont to make sure we wont miss diagnosed. X-ray or CT scan will be conduct on the back and chest region. Sometimes MRI is needed and PET scan for patients with cancer history.
Treatment
Shoulder blade pain will be treated depend on individual conditions. If its muscle related, normally doctor will recommend to rest or use ice compression on the pain area. Doctor will suggest physical therapy or heat therapy if the shouder blade pain persist or got worst.
Call Us