My brother says I have bad posture and I researched, and I do not have any severe diseases, such as cancer, I believe not. I just have this horrible burning sensation between my shoulder blades and I get a stiff neck often, and it is just killing me. I am a 16-year-old teenager, why I got to suffer from this pain at such a young age? =[
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This burning sensation between your shoulder blades is probably the rhomboid muscles being tight and in spasm. Bad posture can contribute to neck pain, upper sciatica, stiff neck and sore shoulders and more.
As a student, do you spend a lot of time studying or sitting with your head forward over your books? Inadverdently, you may even be slouching ! Especially if you have upper back sticks out. If you do, you are setting yourself up for bad posture. If you do this everyday it puts a tremendous amount of pressure on your back muscles and even more on your neck.
The good news is that there are some simple things that you can do:
1] Try not to slouch when you are sitting at school or while studying- make sure your back is straight. A good idea is have a back rest or cushion on your chair- this will ensure that you can sit back comfortably and not slouch. A back rest will also put a slight curve in your spine which promotes good posture. Here is a good low back rest designed for the lumbar spine: http://www.arc4life.com/site/615058/prod…
2] Instead of having to flex your head forward while studying, raise your material to eye level- If you can stand your books up that would really help with the neck and upper sciatica.
3] Exercises are important for your neck and upper back- here are some good ones for your neck – http://www.arc4life.com/site/615058/page… Even exercises like Yoga will help.
4] Take breaks while you study
5] Look at your backpack? Is it too heavy? Your backpack should weigh no more than 15 % of your body weight; So for example if you weigh 100 lbs, your backpack should weigh less than 15 lbs. There is a really good backpack called the Air Pack that your parents may want to check out: http://www.arc4life.com/site/615058/page… Look for a backpack that evenly distributes the weight of the contents.
6] Here is a stretch for your rhomboid muscle and upper back: Cross one arm in front of your body. Now use the opposite arm to squeeze into your body and above or below elbow joint. Hold this stretch for about 10-15 seconds.
Hope this helps.
Bad Posture…. sorry.
Try doing some back stretches to work up your back.
And always try to stand up straight. You can tape a bit of tape along your back to remind you to stand straight. It takes a while to get used to it, trust me. I also had my family remind me if I went shlumpy again.
Could be schistosomiasis.