My upper back is absolutely killing me

[Lucyloo223]

I'm in so much pain. What can I do to make it better? Paracetamol and ibuprofen have done nothing. I don't have a bath 😫

An icepack to numb the pain? It will also reduce inflammation if you have any. Or does it feel more like a trapped nerve or something?

Try some gentle yoga stretches. Adriene is good if you focus on Benji the dog. I reach for her when my neck is on the edge

Sounds crazy but try some hip excercises

I recently went to physio for severe upper back pain...... apparently its caused by a hip injury and since doing the excercises my back pain has definetly decreased. Worth a try

Agree. You need to keep up the alternating panic killers. Do some very gentle stretching - yoga for upper or lower back. Hot water bottle and some sleep. It won’t be fixed by tomorrow but it should improve in a few days. You can get something stronger from the pharmacy / gp like naproxen of co codamol.

Do you know why it's hurting?

Have you got any chest pain? Or feel ill/ sick/ breathless with it? Or is it an injury?

There are so many things it could be that it’s hard to suggest anything really. Do you have any idea what’s causing it?

You want to get that checked out

I would take the painkillers, use heat and look for a private physio to see if you can get an appointment asap. Mine is amazing and helps so much. Drs can prescribe painkillers but they won’t always and refer you to an NHS physio on a wait, but you should be able to see a private physio much quicker and they should be able to reduce the amount of pain you are in and should be able to tell you if it’s worth making a doctors appointment.

i would also echo searching “yoga with Adriene for back pain” on you tube and go slowly. Try and get some steps in gently to keep moving and have a good sleeping position with only one pillow.

Same my upper back and neck are killing me. It's such a shame you don't have a bath. I'm going to try and get some codeine soon

I have intermittent back pain, and have regular sports massages. they're not comfortable or relaxing, but they do help.

If it’s from sitting at a desk I find the only thing that works is exercise. HIIT especially, weight lifting can also help. I’ve had sports massage, acupuncture, physio but a hiit session stops it!

Could it be gallstones?

If it is then solpadiene works very well apparently but obviously don’t take that as well as paracetamol, wait until the time is up to take it and if it works then it might be gallstones.

Did you eat pizza or something like that?

Do you have any deep heat (and somebody to massage it in for you)?
If not (very) hot water bottle.

It really depends on what the cause is. If you have a desk job, google Upper cross syndrome, there are stretches to help it

NHS advises that if you have upper back pain you should see a doctor. So unless you definitely know the cause, I would be doing that.

See a doctor

I've seen my GP, they're not interested at all!

Sooo many people have back pain the NHS would collapse trying to treat us all. A private physio is your friend.

Shower as heated as you can handle.

I have a small heat pad I switch on and drift off to which helps no matter what it does to the electricity.

Please try and get a diagnosis/correct direction before letting a physio loose on you. The first physio I saw private took £50 told me I’d tight muscles and would be good in 5 days, the nhs physio a month later refused to allow me to be scanned saying nothing wrong beside a virus oh and maybe the numb tummy was a medical prob.. a couple of weeks later I was in theatre for 2 c’s of the spine and recently learnt an L and S of the spine was also impacted. I would be cautious to ever see a physio now. (That and peri I see now where things went wrong)

The GP should be able to allocate stronger painkillers if needed.