I know exactly what you mean. When I was 21 I fell and broke my left collarbone. The fall jammed everything in my shoulder area over towards the right. I had sugery on it and been to physical theropists and nothing gets rid of the pain. I am 30 now and I feel it everyday. I was getting cortisone shots int he deep muscles surrounding my neck and shoulder areas but they only last so long. I also took muscle relaxers and pain pills, but I dont like taking meds that I can get addiccted to. That bruised feeling that you are talking about....I have had it ever since I broke my collarbone. It is just right on the edge of the vertabre it seems. But when pushed on it hurts like a damn bruise. Soft tissues cover your spine and muscles connect to it. It might be, that one particular area is carrying more stress than the rest of your back, thereofre making it sore as hell. Heat helps and so do over the counter meds like ibporfin and alieve. Anything that is anti-imflammatory.

hi,

i've got exactly that pain. It only seems to be affecting one vertebrae and it only hurts when I press on it or when I really stretch my back by bending over. When it does hurt it hurts like it's bruised.

Has yours gone yet? I've had mine for around a week.

Tom

I have had mine for 7 years. Nothing works on it. I dunno what to say. I want to get an mri when my health insurance kicks in. All ii know is that it is painful and bothersome.

I still have the intermittent pain tom...Very strange but I found another site a while back where people had the same thing...No one seems to know what it is but someone did mention trigger points. It's weird I could be fine and all of a sudden I feel the tenderness and rub it a little..The pain increases at first and then subsides after a little massage. I have not gone to the doctor or chiropractor yet...First waiting to see if it resolves on its own. Don't have ins. For chiro anymore so maybe a physical therapist? I think my problem might be from bad posture too?

Thanks for the response guys. I think it could be from bad posture. I actually visited a chiropractor yesterday who reckoned that you can get very localised pain in vertebra from bad posture, since all the vertebra are related and there are loads of nerves and muscles linking them. It's weird because it does feel like a trauma injury, like i've whacked it somehow but apparently not.

It's reassuring to hear that other people have it as well anyway.

Just to clarify, it feels like a bruise just on the side of one of the vertebra in the middle of my back which hurts either if I push on the side, or when I reach right over, and it feels very localised on that vertebra. Does that sound right?

Cheers

tom

Hi tom,

yes I do tend to have bad posture esp when sitting at computer and have tried to be more aware of it lately. Did your chiropractor recommend any remedies or ways to improve the problem. I'm thinking of going to chiro again too but it's just so expensive and requires several ongoing visits. Not sure if maybe I should just go to regular doctor to get referred to p.T.

My pain is mid back around area where my bra crosses (female) over my back. Sometimes when I stretch I can feel a pulling twinge in that area...Like the skin is involved and then when I press on the certain area, it is sore and feels like a bruise. Sometimes the pain can be stronger than other times. Once you rub it a little, the pain subsides...Weird. I also tend to get a lot of tension in my upper shoulder blades and neck area so maybe this is all related. Just want to try and correct it...

Did the chiro do an x-ray?

Good luck to you tom.

I have the exact same pain. I had an eeg done in september due to carpal tunnel syndrome and they said I had a pinched nerve in my neck. Went to the dr with low back pain and they have done some x-rays. Next comes the mri. The pain in the mid back has become so severe at times that the dr's had thought I was having a heart attack and sent me to the emergency room. The dr has given me shots in the mid back and it helps for a while and then comes right back

Hi guys,

i was reading your thread and had to respond. Long term, almost all back problems are due to poor posture ...No suprise there! What you need is a postural assessment and then corrective exercises. The tricky thing is finding someone in your area. They could be a physio, they could be a personal fitness trainer. You have to hunt.


Short term, it's more tricky, a chiropractor may help, pain-killers may help, even acupuncture may help. But ultimately you have to take control.


I am an acupuncturist in london. I used to give clients a handout about the master points for back pain,, then I began working with a great postural specialist called dax moy - i've seen him get clients out of wheelchairs. - he said I should put the book on the web.

So I have, I have a great response from all over the world saying thanks. Its in user friendly form, photos and simple desriptions, combined with gentle exercises. For many forms of back pain its really effective.


It's free, you will have to sign up to my newsletter so you can mail me, but you can choose to unsubscribe straight away if you wish.

The points are not my good idea, they are 4,000 years of trial and error, ...You have nothing to lose.


...Let me know what you think, and if it does or doesn't help ...

Best wishes, tim.

London acupuncturist
member of the british acupuncture council

Backpainremedy.Co.Uk

Do some research on fibromyalgia and see if you have any of the other symptoms. It can feel like a pulled or bruised muscle, even though you know there's been no injury. The biggest tell-tale sign of fibromyalgia is tender points, which feel much like what you describe. They tend to occur in particular parts of the body. I have mine mostly at the base of the skull, neck, mid and lower back, and legs. Other symptoms that I experience are fatigue, chronic headaches and insomnia, though there is a broad family of symptoms, and everyone doesn't manifest all the same ones.

The frustrating thing about fibromyalgia is that it is very difficult to diagnose because it's a condition of the soft tissue and can't be detected by any tests, x-rays, or other images. I suffered with these symptoms for years before finally getting a diagnosis.

Hope you're feeling better.

I' too have had this weird pain in my back off and on for a few years now. I've never known what it was. It's really bothering me today which is why I finally decided to do some searches to see if anyone else may be experiencing this same thing. Not sure if I should go to a doctor or what. It is nice to know that i'm not alone.

I too have this bruised feeling on my spine, right above my waistline. I've had it for about 2 months. Sometimes I can touch it and it feels bruised and other times it doesn't. I also feel it at times when I cough and also when I bend and then it kind of feels like I'm stretching something. It hasn't gotten any worse or better, nor, is it debilitating ....it's just there. I went to my doctor, an Internist, who said because of my age, 59, don't be surprised if Iyou have a fracture.....I had a bone density test about 4-5 years ago and it was great...no problems at all, a very good reading. I am scheduled for a spinal x-ray and bone density test this Thursday. I'll let you know when I get the results.

Hi,

Over the last year I have had a re-ocurring mid back problem where I have a pain which seems to comes from the mid-spine region under my shoulder blades. The problem seems to come on over a space of a few weeks and gradually gets to a v.painful stage before subsiding to the point where I have no pain or mobility problems at all. I am 27, slim build and fairly active. The neck stiffness is constant outwith the period that my back seems to get painful. I put this down to a trapped nerve but now it's happened a few times it's starting to fustrate me - my doctor hasn't really helped my much. Just told me to take pain killers which don't really help when the pain is at it's peak. Does anyone has some advise?

I noticed that my spine hurt when my physical therapist was working on my back. She was pushing on several different parts of my spine. I don't remember why and what she was doing it, but I had to ask if I had a bruise on my spine. There wasn't anything there but it hurt when pressed on. I had an accident 15 years ago...Hair caught in printing machine and pulled out, that is when my neck pain and other problems began. As if that wasn't bad enough, I was in a car accident 3 months ago. I ended up with a concussion, sprained wrist and a contusion on my knee. Along with that, I aggrevated my neck injury, got numbness in my right hand and pain in my right shoulder blade. I didn't noticed the pain on my spine till I started therapy. However the pain in the shoulder blade won't go away either. I had an xray of neck, mri of neck and they finally did an xray of my mid and upper back. I am scheduled to have a bone scan and another xray taken in the next two weeks. I have been diagnosed with cervical spondylosis. I'm only 37 and I keep hearing that I need to try physical therapy, massage, pain killers and so on...which I have don all and more. I have suffered for 15 years and now, because of this accident, I feel HORRIBLE! I started to have other problems which I don't know if they could be related. It seems like some doctors just can't put themselves in our shoes. I don't want to have to take pain killers for the rest of my life. There has to be something out there for people like myself.

Hi,
that's a pain to hear about all this pain.
To: lopz11; doctors will never put themselves in our shoes, moreover, they would never really keen to release you from your pain for ever, as they would loose their jobs. So it's all in our own hands and none is going to help unless we will do it ourselves.
Try new things that doctors didn't mention, build yourself up, exercise. As for me I found the best relaxation and pain relief in acupressure mat.

Mary,
I have tried several things through the years. I have had trigger pt injections, acupuncture, massage, physical therapy, exercise, chiropractor, medicine, vitamins, magnetic therapy, traction and anything else that goes along with physical therapy. I try to always keep a positive attitude, but how much can a person take. I can not play sports anymore! I can not do anything too active or I pay for it the next day. I'm always open for new things, but what works for one person may not work for someone else.

Wow, just want to say that it's comforting to know that this sounds like a somewhat common occurrence. I first noticed the bruised feeling on my mid-vertebrae about a year and a half ago while I was in a yoga class. I stopped yoga for a while, thinking yoga was causing or aggravating the pain, but the pain has persisted. I realized that my back would feel a lot better after a stay in a hotel, so I got a new bed. It has really helped a lot (my previous bed was way too soft, no support), but I still get the pain, just not as severe. Common things that worsen or trigger the pain are when I reach in a certain direction, or when I'm sitting slumped over at the computer. I think two things that can really help are a mattress that is not too soft, and good posture. Good luck to you all! I feel your pain.

This could just be a trapped nerve. Its nothing serious. I've had it before and thats all it was.

Wow I decided to look up the web to see if anyone else had the same prob as me and not that I am glad there is other people with the same prob I'm glad I'm not the only I first got the bruised feeling about 6 yrs ago just around my middle back along the bra line as I call it I went for Kinesology and I think it worked because the pain went for a few yrs it is back now a few wks and I do think it is down to bad posture I recently had a baby and I am feeding her myself and I know I some times I am not doing my posture any favours. I do think though that excercise can help especially swimming I just need to get swimming and take my own advice. I am going to try the Kinesology again and maybe Cranial sacral healing as going to the doctors just does not do it for me.

I'm having the same pain. Mid Back right on the spine i suspect its poor posture cause im rather tall and hunch over a computer screen all day. It bothers me everyday, but isn't severe enough to warrant a trip to a doc or hospital. It's like a dull bruise pain. I'm just glad it doesn't sound serious. It is really annoying though. It is really tender when i touch it though.