# My upper back CLAMPS shut....I can't deal....



## beach (May 12, 2000)

Ok, I guess when my stomach spasms, it goes up to my back and clamps shut and my knots kill me. I go for some massage therapy, which helps and sit in a jacuzzi, but sometimes this can last for days and I am just so sick of it. It puts me a in a foul mood, I'm so bitchy and I don't eat anything that would spark it so It must be stress....but EEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRr it's so hard to deal with.


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

It may be worth looking up and/or going to a physical therapist to work on the upper back.Mine knots up from repetitive things and doing certain exercises to work the muscles makes it much less likely to cramp and knot up.K.


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## beach (May 12, 2000)

I wonder if it has anything to do with weight lifting. I tried to do that with my arms last week, and ever since than, I have had pain...It could be that it's because of that. In that case, I don't want to do my upper arms anymore....Not worth it.


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## eric (Jul 8, 1999)

Beach, the weight lifting would be my bet.Daily stretching and breathing excersises can help this a lot.


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## Jared (Sep 1, 2001)

You might want to have your doctor check for pinched nerves or other spinal/neck problems. My mom had unbearable back pain for a couple of weeks, almost to the point where she couldn't get out of bed by herself. A couple of X-Rays and MRIs later, they discovered one of her discs was out of alignment. Thankfully, it can be fixed through massage therapy. Without the diagnosis it is doubtful a massage therapist would have known how to correctly treat my mom's condition.-- Jared


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## Kathleen M. (Nov 16, 1999)

Weight lifting could have caused this.You may not want to give up doing it forever as it is a very good way to maintain muscle mass as you get older and keeps your bones and your balance and all of that much healthier much longer than if you don't do these sorts of things. Also doing it properly can keep you from getting injuries from even everyday activities.THE TRICK IS that most people start off with WAY too much weight or build up the weight WAY too fast.Especially at first you want to workouts to feel like you didn't do much at the time. Going for the burn is not the way for beginners to start.If the pain continues see the doctor to make sure you didn't injure anything to badly.When I did weights for my upper back pain they started me doing exercies with 1 lb. weights for free weights and for the machines on the lowest possible weight that machine had with just a few reps and slowly building over time


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## beach (May 12, 2000)

I'm using 5 lb weights so it's not heavy stuff, but I am doing several different exercises....I'm scared to do it again now, because i'm scared that will happen. And, I don't feel like suffering for a week, so I don't know what to do yet. I really want to work out my arms...


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## BQ (May 22, 2000)

Beach, I think it is the "new" aspect of the exercises that is getting ya. I'm assuming you have been working w/5 lb weights. But now with 'new' exercises, perhaps 5 lb is too much? Or too many reps? Could you use less reps or 2 pounders or something and work up to 5 again?This way you could still do the exercises and hopefully not get things outta whack back there.Just a thought.BQ


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## beach (May 12, 2000)

The problem is I feel that 5 lbs is even too small. I was even going to go up to 8. 1 and 2 lbs, I wouldn't even feel like I was doing anything, unfortunately. So if I continue, It would be with the 5 lbs. However, I think I may wait a bit to do it and maybe keep a journal this month and see what it is that is sparking it.


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## BQ (May 22, 2000)

Sounds like a good plan Beach. Hope you can get to the bottom of it this way.BQ


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