Because your spine has such an intricate structure, it’s one of the most common places for an injury or illness to cause pain. If your upper back hurts but you’re not sure why, consider some common (and not so common) reasons for your pain as outlined by Spine-Health.com.
Common Reasons Why Your Upper Back Hurts
Pain in the upper back is most often caused by a muscular injury or joint dysfunction. Specific possibilities include:
Having Poor Posture
It’s amazing how much your posture affects the health of your spine. You might have bad posture and not even know it. Common posture problems include hunching forward when working at a computer, slouching when you stand, and sleeping with the wrong pillow. By improving your posture, you may do away with a primary source of your upper back pain.
Lifting Improperly
Do you often lift and carry boxes at work or at home? If you do this improperly, you could put unnecessary stress on your spine and the surrounding tissues. Lifting heavy objects is most likely to cause upper back pain if you carry boxes over your head or strain to pick up something that’s too heavy for you to move.
Overusing Your Back
Acute upper back pain can result from performing strenuous physical activities you’re not accustomed to, such as painting the ceiling or helping a friend move. The pain should subside on its own with a little rest and ice.
Getting in an Accident
Traumatic injuries are also known to make your upper back hurt. Muscle strains, ligament sprains, and inflammation in this part of your body could occur after getting in a car crash, falling down a flight of stairs, or being knocked over while playing sports.
Not-So-Common Reasons Why Your Upper Back Hurts
It’s also possible that your back pain is caused by a degenerative disease or other illness. These conditions are less common, but they’re worth exploring if you rule out other more probable causes.
Thoracic Spine Degeneration
Natural, age-related spinal degeneration can cause upper back pain. Sometimes, bulging or herniated discs are to blame, but these are actually more likely to cause symptoms when they occur in the lumbar spine (lower back) rather than the thoracic spine (middle to upper back).
Arthritis
Osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease that can occur in any joint in the body, including the vertebrae in your spine. Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that can also make your upper back hurt.
Compression Fracture
Spinal fractures are most likely to develop in older adults with weak vertebrae caused by osteoporosis. When one bone can no longer support the weight above it, it compresses into a wedge shape. Eventually, it may lose enough height that your posture changes and you experience upper back pain.
Spinal Deformity
If you have scoliosis—a sideways C- or S-shaped curve to your spine—or kyphosis—a rounded thoracic spine—you may experience upper back pain as your condition progresses.
Fibromyalgia
This rare condition is known to cause widespread pain and fatigue, so it could be the reason your upper back hurts.
Treat Upper Back Pain at Spine Correction Center
Any combination of the reasons listed here—along with many other rarer problems such as a spinal infection or cancer—could be making it so that your upper back hurts. No matter the reason, you should have your spine checked out by a professional to get treatment underway.
At Spine Correction Center of the Rockies, we offer techniques to help you avoid prescription painkillers and back surgery, including:
Your journey to a pain-free way of life begins with a free consultation at Spine Correction Center. To get started, please contact us online or call our Fort Collins office at (970) 658-5115 today.
