Achy Breaky Midback Pain: Dorsal Scapular Nerve Entrapment

Have you ever experienced a deep achy (sometimes burning) pain in your midback region on the inside part of your shoulder blade beside your spine? Does it make you feel like you need to rub your midback on the corner of a wall to get relief? Does the persistent pain of it distract your from doing work at your desk? If you answered 'yes' to any of the above questions, you may be experiencing the symptoms of Dorsal Scapular Nerve Entrapment. 

What is Dorsal Scapular Nerve Entrapment?
Dorsal Scapular Nerve Entrapment is the irritation or (literal) impingement of the dorsal scapular nerve in your midback. It is an under-recognized cause of neck, upper back and shoulder blade pain. The symptoms of it often overlap with other conditions and can be mistaken for cervical disc herniation, rib pain or shoulder pathology.

My side rant: Now, I don't like to use the word "impingement" or phrase "pinched nerve" lightly when talking about the body because I think it can too easily mislead the proper, thorough diagnosis of a person's pain. It's too easy to say "you have a pinched nerve and that's why you have pain". Most often, the pain a person experiences is NOT from a pinched nerve. But in the case of dorsal scapular nerve entrapment, it literally is "a pinched nerve" in severe cases.

Common Cause of Dorsal Scapular Nerve Entrapment
In the diagram above, you can see the common "pinch points" of the dorsal scapular nerve as it travels from the neck down into the midback. The muscles that commonly get tight and then consequently decrease the dorsal scapular nerve's ability to move properly in your body are levator scapulae, rhomboid minor and rhomboid major.

How Do You Treat Dorsal Scapular Nerve Entrapment?
Rehab, rehab, rehab! I cannot stress enough how important it is to strengthen your midback muscles, particularly your rhomboid muscles, to help in the recovery process of dorsal scapular nerve entrapment. Exercise combined with manual therapy (soft tissue therapy, spinal manipulation and mobilization) has also demonstrated itself to be an effective treatment combination in relieving the pain you're experiencing from it and also helping to prevent its reoccurrence. 

Does dorsal scapular nerve entrapment sound like something you're experiencing? Book today with Dr. Brenda Yee at Nurture Family Chiropractic in Guelph, Ontario to see how the combination of hands-on treatment and guided strengthening physical rehabilitation can make a drastic difference for you.

Get Rid of Your Dorsal Scapular Nerve Entrapment