Back pain is of various kinds. Upper back and neck pains are just few out of many. Many of us know that this can occur to anyone of us at any time. Neck and upper back pain is as painful and troublesome as lower back pain.

What usually happens is some injury or strains are the most common reasons for back problem that occurs in the upper portions of our backs. Sometimes you can get a pinched nerve causing upper back pain and one problem that happens is headaches. When this occurs if can effect concentration, enthusiasm and the mood of a person.

Although upper back pain is not as common as lower back pain but it still affects many people. Let's first discuss what the upper back is made of. The upper back is composted of the thoracic spine. The thoracic spine consists of 12 vertebrae. These vertebrae are connected with 9 of the 12 rib bones. The breast bone is perpendicular to the thoracic spine. Rib bones are also connected to the breast bone. The thoracic cage consists of the breastbone, ribs and the thoracic spine. Thoracic means "chest" All of the upper organs are protected by the chest cage.

Although rare, upper back pain does happen. What you are going to learn are the causes, symptoms and treatment that will help you understand and relieve the pain.

Now the thoracic spine exists to help stabilize the body and protect the organs. It is stronger than the lumbar spine (lower back) and the cervical spine (neck). What helps the body move and flex are the cervical and lumbar spines, while the thoracic spine is there for stability and strength. This is a reason why most of the injuries are in the cervical and the lumbar spinal regions.

The two major causes of neck and upper back pain or thoracic spine pain are mysofascial pain and joint dysfunctional pain. Myofasical pain is a muscular irritation. This results from muscle strains, from sports and other activities, over and under use of the muscle, sudden movements like being thrown forward in a car accident. This primarily affects the large muscles that support the shoulder blades.

Joint Dysfunction is the malfunctioning of the pair of joints that connect each rib with the thoracic spine. The ribs are connected to the spine on either side by joints. Any kind of injury to one or even both joints can result in a loss of function and lots of pain.

Myofacial pain can be best treated by deep tissue massage, chiropractic manipulation of the spine (chiropractic back pain case studies), physical therapy for upper back pain and acupuncture or acupressure for upper back pain. One thing that needs to be done is exercise, stretching and strengthening the shoulder muscles. This is a main key in developing strength of the upper back.

Chiropractic manipulation (chiropractic back pain case studies cure) can treat dysfunction of the joints, exercise (aerobic), medication to help relieve the pain and steroid injections to the target sites of pain.

A medical physician can also assist you in treating the cause of the upper back and neck pain as well as pain management. Other professionals such as physical therapist, orthopedic surgeons and chiropractic professional can also be lots of help.