Clinically reviewed by What is shoulder blade pain
Shoulder blade pain is felt between the shoulder blades, along the inner edge of one of them, or just above it towards the neck. The shoulder blade itself is rarely the source. In Urdu people describe it as kandhon ke darmiyan dard.
The commonest source is the neck. The joints and discs of the lower neck refer pain down into this area, so the pain is felt over the shoulder blade while the problem sits higher up.
The second commonest is simple overload: hours held in one position at a machine, a desk, a phone or a motorbike. A small number of cases come from the chest or the abdomen, and those are covered below.
Symptoms you might have
- A deep ache or burning along the inner edge of one shoulder blade
- One spot that feels as though it needs pressing hard
- Pain that changes when you turn or tilt your neck, which points to the neck as the source
- Pins and needles or pain travelling into the arm or hand alongside it
- Pain that is clearly worse on taking a deep breath or coughing, which needs a doctor rather than a physiotherapist
Why it happens
- Neck joints and discs referring pain, including cervical spondylosis, which is the commonest single cause
- Hours in one position at a sewing machine, a desk, a counter, a shop or on a motorbike
- Carrying a heavy bag, load or child on one shoulder every day
- Weak shoulder blade muscles and weak deep neck muscles
- A stiff upper back and stiff ribs, which throw the load onto the muscles between the blades
- Trigger points in the muscles between the shoulder blade and the spine
When you should see a physiotherapist
Go to a hospital now if shoulder blade pain comes with chest pain or tightness, breathlessness, sweating, nausea, or pain spreading to the jaw or the left arm. Those are heart symptoms. Treat sudden, severe, tearing pain between the shoulder blades as an emergency too.
See a doctor rather than a physiotherapist if the pain is clearly worse on breathing deeply or coughing, if it is under the right shoulder blade along with upper right stomach pain or nausea after fatty food, which can be the gallbladder, if there is fever or unexplained weight loss, if night pain wakes you and does not change with position, or if a band of pain is followed by a blistering rash.
Come to physiotherapy for pain that changes with position, with neck movement or with hours of work. That is the large majority of shoulder blade pain.
Al-Shama Physiotherapy Clinic
Ask about an appointment
اپائنٹمنٹ کے بارے میں پوچھیںAppointment ke liye poochein
Fill this in and WhatsApp will open with your details ready to send.
یہ فارم پُر کریں؛ واٹس ایپ پر آپ کی تفصیلات کے ساتھ پیغام تیار ہو جائے گا۔Yeh form bharein, WhatsApp aap ki tafseel ke saath khul jaye ga.
How it is treated
Treatment starts by working out where the pain is coming from, because the shoulder blade is usually the messenger rather than the problem. The neck is assessed before anything is done to the blade itself.
- Manual therapy to the neck, upper back and ribs, which is where most of the restriction actually sits
- Dry needling for the tight bands between the shoulder blade and the spine, which often releases the exact spot you keep asking people to press
- Hijama (cupping therapy) for broad tightness across the upper back and shoulders
- Exercise therapy for the shoulder blade muscles and the deep neck muscles, which is the part that holds the result
- TENS and electrotherapy for pain relief in the early weeks
- Work setup changes: screen and machine height, phone habits, and how you carry loads
Surgery has no part in ordinary shoulder blade pain. Where the assessment points to the neck, treatment moves there, and our neck pain and cervical spondylosis pages cover that. Dry needling and hijama are not used on skin that has lost sensation or on anyone taking blood thinners.
Exercises, and what to avoid
What helps
- Chin tucks, drawing the chin gently back without tipping the head, ten slow repetitions
- Band rows and shoulder blade squeezes, two sets of twelve to fifteen, three times a week
- Lying over a rolled towel along the upper back for a minute or two
- A gentle neck side-bend and rotation stretch, held 20 to 30 seconds each way
What to avoid
- Digging a hard ball into the tender spot every day. Short term relief, and the area becomes more irritable
- Heavy shrug exercises, which load the muscle that is already overworking
- Holding a phone between your shoulder and ear
- Working two or three hours without standing up. The position, not the hour, is what hurts
What you can do at home
Heat suits this area. Fifteen to twenty minutes with a hot pack on the upper back and between the blades, which also makes the exercises easier.
Change position every 30 to 40 minutes. Standing up for one minute is enough. Set a reminder if you are the kind who forgets.
Raise your screen or your work to eye level so the neck is not held bent forward for hours. Phone at eye level too.
Use one pillow of a height that keeps the neck in line with the body, not a stack. Do not sleep with the arm under your head.
How long it takes
Pain from posture and long working hours usually improves within two to three weeks and settles over four to six weeks, provided the work setup actually changes.
Pain referred from the neck takes four to eight weeks, with a noticeable change in the first two weeks of proper treatment.
Where cervical spondylosis is behind it, the pain settles but the underlying wear does not go away, so it is managed with ongoing exercise rather than cured in a course.
The commonest reason it comes back is that the treatment finished and the eight hours in one position did not. Two short exercise sessions a week and position changes keep it away.
Urdu / Roman Urdu
Choose your reading script / اپنی پسند کا رسم الخط منتخب کریں
اردوUrdu script
کندھوں کے درمیان یا کندھے کی ہڈی کے کنارے پر درد کی سب سے عام وجہ گردن ہوتی ہے۔ گردن کے جوڑوں سے درد نیچے کندھے تک آتا ہے، اس لیے علاج گردن کا ہوتا ہے۔
دوسری عام وجہ گھنٹوں ایک ہی پوزیشن میں کام کرنا ہے: مشین، کاؤنٹر، موبائل، یا موٹر سائیکل۔
گھر پر: گرم سیک، ہر آدھا گھنٹہ اٹھ کر چلنا، اسکرین اور موبائل آنکھوں کی سیدھ میں، اور ایک صحیح اونچائی والا تکیہ۔ گردن اور کندھے کی ورزش ہفتے میں تین دن۔
اگر اس درد کے ساتھ سینے میں درد، سانس پھولنا یا پسینہ ہو، یا گہری سانس لینے اور کھانسنے پر درد صاف بڑھ جائے، تو فوراً ڈاکٹر یا ہسپتال جائیں۔ یہ فزیوتھراپی کا مسئلہ نہیں۔
Roman Urdu
Kandhon ke darmiyan ya kandhe ki haddi ke kinare par dard ki sab se aam wajah gardan hoti hai. Gardan ke joron se dard neeche kandhe tak aata hai, is liye ilaj gardan ka hota hai.
Doosri aam wajah ghanton ek hi position mein kaam karna hai: machine, counter, mobile, ya motorcycle.
Ghar par: garam sek, har aadha ghanta uth kar chalna, screen aur mobile aankhon ki sidh mein, aur ek sahi oonchai wala takiya. Gardan aur kandhe ki warzish hafte mein teen din.
Agar is dard ke sath seene mein dard, saans phoolna ya pasina ho, ya gehri saans lene aur khansne par dard saaf barh jaye, to foran doctor ya hospital jayen. Ye physiotherapy ka masla nahi.
Treatment at the clinic, and online
INFORMATION → INDIVIDUAL CARE
A plan built around you.
Talk with Dr. Zahra Fatima, DPT. Understand your next steps, with guidance for your own symptoms and daily routine.
Talk it through
Discuss your symptoms, what you find difficult and what you want to get back to.
Understand your next steps
Use the consultation to discuss which care and exercises fit your situation.
Take your plan with you
Your online consultation includes a written plan you can refer to afterwards.
Questions people ask
Why does the area between my shoulder blades hurt?
Can neck problems really cause shoulder blade pain?
When is shoulder blade pain a heart problem?
Does cupping help shoulder blade pain?
Why does pressing the spot only help for an hour?
Related conditions
- Neck pain and stiff neck treatment
- Cervical spondylosis treatment
- Rotator cuff tear treatment
- Frozen shoulder treatment
- Shoulder impingement treatment