Possible serious injury

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After lifting weights, or any strenuous exercise really, I get this terrible crippling pain in my upper back. I know lower back pain can be serious, but my lower back feels fine. This pain is on the upper-left side of my back, between my spine and my left shoulderblade. When I keep all my upper body muscles loose, there's no pain. When move my shoulders or tighten any muscle in my back though, the pain is just unbearable and shocks me. It feels deep inside my back, unable to be reached by just massaging. The more I think about it, the more I realize how serious this could be. If this keeps up, I might have to go to the doctor. I'm just wondering if something could be pulled or strained, or if it sounds like something more serious, i/e a disc problem or a pinched nerve. Any ideas? Thanks.

I've had that kind of thing. It's nothing to do with the spine. It's an area where a bunch of muscles are anchored or cross over or something. The only thing that helped for me was a heating_pad. I loved my heating pad.If we're talking about the same thing, it's occured a few times in my life. The first time was when I was a teenager (I think it was triggered by sweeping floors, which was part of what I had to do for a job I had), and the pain from muscle_spasm (a couple of inches below the lower point of the left shoulder blade) was so bad that I couldn't breath.

Did it feel really, really deep inside? Because I just had somebody try to massage really deep in there, and it loosened my muscles which helped some, but now the pain is back again. I think it has something to do with my muscles being too tight for some reason, which in itself isn't so dangerous I don't think. Can't be too careful when it comes to back injuries though.

Did it feel really, really deep inside? Yes it did. I assumed I strained one or more muscles that were not very well toned.I now push around fairly heavy weights and, I haven't had the spasm in a few years.

Thanks. I love lifting and all, but I hate injuries because they can set you back so much. The more I feel the pain, the more it feels like a muscle problem. You're right, stretching would probably do the trick.

I'm personally not a huge fan of stretching (ducking!), because people usually don't know how to do it properly, and, on the average, do more harm than good.Whatever you do when you stretch, don't bounce! If you can, ask a trainer for advice, or read up on it.However, I'm a huge fan of warming up your muscles before pushing them hard.

It's true that stretching can be done horribly wrong. I've done various stretches in different group settings, and eventually adapted a series of stretches almost identical to my school's group track stretch at the beginning of practice, with a variation on the calf stretch and a couple extra shoulder stretches or emphasis on certain things depending upon what I'm stretching for. I've looked up what stretches are harmful and how good stretches can become harmful if done improperly. I now find that stretching is something I've been recently neglecting (haven't done much for something, as opposed to running) and as a consequence I've had muscle stiffness after my more intense days, despite taking a hot tub after every practice.

It's possible you strained a muscle or pinched a nerve. I did both to my neck and shoulderblades when I used to wrestle in highschool. Forget about a full workout, that'll make it MUCH worse. Several times a day for about a week slowly stretch a little bit more. After the 3rd or 4th day it won't be debilitating but still kinda painful.Also, sleep without a pillow. Be flat on your back all night.