Probably the most common question on upper back pain is, why does it happen?

Most people will say that they have done nothing out of the normal. They went to work, came home, got out of bed, did some minor activity, and one day they noticed they had upper back pain. Why?

To understand part of the reason you need to know how your spine works. You are led to believe that your spine works in segments; you have your lower back, mid back, upper back and neck. They can all have pain and it is always localized, meaning the pain is in tat exact area.

This is completely wrong. Your spine works as an entire system. For example, if you bend to touch your toes, it is not just your lower back that bends. Your entire spine moves so you can do this.

The same applies with pain. If the lower back changes, so will your upper back. Upper back pain can therefore come from as many irritants to your lower back as it does from your upper back.

The joints and muscles in your upper back are also smaller, so they require less tension to make them painful.

So why does upper back pain happen?

Your upper back joints and muscle’s tire and tighten due to:

- Your lower back being out of balance, even though it may not be painful

- The joints in your upper back include your rib cage; these can tire from stress, poor breathing and all the sitting at desks nowadays.

- As you tire your posture changes and you stoop. This places strain on your upper back.

- And there is all the incorrect and heavy lifting which places strain on the area.

There are numerous factors which cause your upper back pain. They are not just the local pressures from lifting of sitting incorrectly. You need to be aware of your lower back, the stresses in your life and many other factors.

The main reason that the back pain statistics are getting worse is, too many people are told that back pain is only physical. You need to look at all the aspects of your upper back pain.

Upper back pain is caused by your entire spine being out of balance, physically and emotionally. If you look at your back pain as a holistic occurrence, then you can remove it easily and quickly. The first step is knowing what distortion patterns are occurring, then you can start to target the physical factors while you address the stress factors of your upper back pain.