Astroman

Hey - I’ve been using a tennis ball against the wall to try and alleviate some of my shoulder blade pain.

I have a foam roller but I find it to be too firm - I can regulate how much pressure when I’m standing and sandwiching the ball between the wall and my upper back.

It does give me temporary relief - I had tried it a while back (2 years ago maybe?) but at that time when my pain was all nerve pain - it didn’t really help - not sure why
Maybe it was more nerves than muscle/tendon back then?

The last visit to my physio (after taking a year off) she really worked my upper back.. etc and it helped for several hours after.

I alternate the tennis ball with my husband pushing his thumb into my back and working the area.

Any tips?

I know you’re going to tell me to use the search function... to find your older posts.. haha

astroman said...
Well use the search function to find old posts.

Well a foam roller wont get into the edges of the shoulder blade.

Use your tennis ball, then graduate to a LaCross ball on the floor, ask for hubbies thumbs some more................then apply DMSO with Penetrex. It was hard for me to reach alone with a horse hair paint brush, you can have hubby help!

And start strenghtening the upper back starting with reverse flys and soup cans. Military press (overhead weights). This takes a long time. Rows work good too. I belong to a gym and use it a lot now.

Triceps strength supports upper back too, your pushing down from 3 o'clock. Biceps and chest strength can make upper back tension worse - dont much of that until upper back / shoulders are not as tight.