Pain Between the Shoulder Blades

A 39-year-old female patient had been experiencing interscapular pain (pain between the shoulder blades) for nine months. The pain was triggered by sneezing and coughing. In addition, the arms and hands on both sides fell asleep every night - becoming more numb on the left side than on the right.

She stated that she had a nervous stomach and had previously suffered from a stomach ulcer.

And indeed her stomach was conspicuous in the osteopathic sense, but what impressed me even more was a joint blockage in the first rib on the left side and of the clavicle in the joint with the sternum (sternoclavicular joint) on the left. The muscles between the shoulder blades had developed trigger points that were now signaling a permanent overstrain of this muscle group.

My focus in the first session was on removing the joint blockages and treating the trigger points in the rhomboids.

For the second session - nine days later - she was barely feeling any more pain between the shoulder blades. In addition, the pain was no longer triggered by coughing or sneezing. Her hands and arms had not fallen asleep again since the first treatment.