I started 2023 with an unwanted present, a little pain in the left side of my upper back. Small but consistent, the irritation would build up into anguish like Chinese water torture. Add to that the mornings when I’d wake up to find the pain had found its way into my neck or it was sending aftershocks down my left arm and I was left miserable for days on end.
Seeking relief
There’s a place I go to that provides sports/myofascial massage that’s been a godsend. I’ve been a loyal customer ever since they solved a nagging muscle pain that other places couldn’t. They know tightness in my back muscles isn’t something new but pain has never been as persistent as this. It would always feel better after every visit but would predictably return the following morning.
“It must be behavioural,” they said, “something in your routine that’s having the pain return.” The only thing I could think of was sleep posture. I was a side-sleeper so made a conscious effort to sleep on my back. I also experimented with different pillow set-ups including ditching my cervical memory pillow thinking it was the culprit. I went back to using normal pillows, both one and two, and even tried sleeping with a travel neck cushion to see if it helped. Everything I tried produced a different sleep result but nothing stopped the pain from returning.
Putting the pieces together
I regularly ask my massage place questions about the human anatomy and about my body in particular. My goal has always been to speed up healing (“Should I heat the muscle or ice it?”) or prevent injury from happening (“Which muscles should I strengthen to prevent this from coming back?”) One thing I learned during my visits is a lesson I’ve heard repeated in many fitness videos — muscles work in tandem with each other, that is for every bicep that curls your arm the triceps are there to straighten it.
The question finally dawned on me: “could my back pain be related to a complementary muscle?” Given the location of the pain I surmised the complementary muscle to investigate would be my chest and that’s when a possible suspect came to mind: I remembered just prior to the pain first appearing I’d been focusing a lot on chest exercises. I was still doing back exercises but could it be I wasn’t doing enough?
Morning begins to break
To test my theory I opted to do an exercise called “Face Pulls” every day. The set up was simple enough: I had a resistance band that I wrapped around one of the pillars in my house so I could do the exercise and did so without fail every evening. And while the pain did not disappear overnight it was definitely getting better. My sports massage place even noticed commenting that the muscle didn’t feel as tight as before.
The tide was turning in my favour; it looked like I was finally beginning to win the battle.
Storm clouds return
Inexplicably my progress came to a halt and the pain returned with a vengeance. I had altered nothing in my routine so could not account for my sudden change in fortune. The winds had just decided to blow the other way, it seemed. I visited other places hoping they’d be able to spot what everyone else had missed. While I learned new exercises nothing seemed to help.
Back to square one. I thought about all I’d learned and reflected on my journey up til that point. The Face Pulls had indeed helped; I couldn’t discount them especially since I’d received validation from an external party. Something was working until it wasn’t any longer.
As if by divine will a single word popped into my head: Over-Training. Could that be it, could I possibly have been over-doing things? I pondered this while doing my evening face pulls and as if on cue my resistance band snapped in two.
Alright then, let’s stop the face pulls for a while. And you probably won’t be surprised to learn that the pain subsided. In my usual fashion I had over-done the exercise thinking that I couldn’t possibly have too much of a good thing.
Reflections
Earlier this year I heard a quote from a doctor (I forget his name) who said that his job was to help his patients release the healer within themselves. I was a bit skeptical of taking this quote at face value because I don’t want normal lay people to think they can perform heart surgery without training. However, I will say that patients need to have a say in and take responsibility for their own healing journey. There’s a lot of information out there (not all of it good but some of it is) and through careful thought, reflection and experimentation we can slowly piece together a journey towards our own healing. If anything this promotes self-efficacy which I am all on-board for.
My journey took over six months. The back muscle on the left side still feels weird (as if there’s something there) but there is no pain and it does not get in the way of exercise or daily life. That’s enough for now.
As if to test my mettle I have since been bequeathed with not 1 but 3 different muscle pains: one in my left heel, one in my right forearm and one on the left side of my lower back. The lower back pain has already been solved — it was caused a tight IT band. Stretches helped alleviate the pain and I am experimenting with strengthening the hamstrings.
The right forearm may be tennis elbow — despite it being years since I played tennis I believe repeated arm motions, both inside and outside the gym, caused the pain. I’m wearing a compression sleeve and have adjusted my exercises accordingly.
The left heel is a strange one because it feels like the muscle gets tight very quickly (e.g. when I’m sitting or lying down) but is fine once it warms up. The working theory right now is that it was caused by excessive calf raises so I’m now doing the opposite movement to build the complementary muscle.
And in case anybody is wondering, I still do face pulls but hopefully in appropriate amounts now.