You Need To Consider Doing This If Your Upper Back Pain Is Not Improving With Tuina
Upper back pain can be an ongoing challenge, often causing discomfort that radiates across the shoulders and upper spine, making even simple tasks like sitting at your desk, reaching for something on a shelf, or even sleeping, unbearable. Whether it’s a dull ache or sharp, stabbing pain, upper back pain can affect your daily routine and leave you feeling frustrated and limited in your mobility.
The emotional toll of upper back pain can also be significant. The constant discomfort can leave you feeling drained, stressed, and unable to fully enjoy your activities. If you’ve been struggling with upper back pain and haven’t found lasting relief, it may be time to explore a holistic, non-invasive treatment like Tuina to address the root cause and help restore your comfort.
Tuina: A Powerful Approach to Treating Upper Back Pain
Tuina, a form of therapeutic massage rooted in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), has been used for centuries to treat musculoskeletal pain, including upper back pain. Through a combination of techniques such as kneading, pressing, and rolling, Tuina works to release muscle tension, reduce inflammation, improve circulation, and restore the flow of energy (qi) throughout the body. By targeting the muscles, tendons, and joints in the upper back, Tuina helps relieve pain and restore balance, promoting healing and improving mobility.
While Tuina can offer significant relief for many individuals with upper back pain, it may not provide long-lasting results if the underlying cause of the pain has not been accurately diagnosed. Without identifying the root cause, treatments may only offer temporary relief, leaving you stuck in the cycle of discomfort.
Why Getting a Clear Diagnosis Is Crucial
Upper back pain can arise from various underlying causes. Here are five common reasons for upper back discomfort:
- Muscle Strain – Overuse, poor posture, or sudden movements can cause the muscles in the upper back to become strained, leading to pain and stiffness.
- Herniated Disc – A ruptured or slipped disc in the upper spine can press on nerves, causing pain and discomfort.
- Spinal Stenosis – A narrowing of the spinal canal can put pressure on the nerves in the upper back, leading to pain, numbness, or weakness.
- Osteoarthritis – Degenerative changes in the joints of the upper back can lead to pain and stiffness.
- Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction – Misalignment or inflammation of the sacroiliac joint can radiate pain to the upper back and shoulders.
In addition to these common causes, there are two less common but potentially serious causes of upper back pain:
- Fractures – A break in the vertebrae of the upper spine can cause significant pain and limit mobility.
- Infections or Tumors – Infections or tumors in the spine can cause swelling and severe pain, requiring immediate medical intervention.
The Need for Imaging to Get a Precise Diagnosis
It’s important to understand that upper back pain cannot always be fully diagnosed through physical symptoms or a simple examination. To determine the exact cause of your pain, imaging techniques such as X-rays, MRIs, or CT scans are essential. These imaging tools provide healthcare providers with a clear view of the bones, muscles, and nerves in the upper back, allowing them to make an accurate diagnosis and create a targeted treatment plan.
The Pain Relief Clinic: Your Partner in Finding a Clear Diagnosis
At The Pain Relief Clinic, we understand how upper back pain can affect your life, limiting your ability to enjoy a pain-free, active lifestyle. With over a decade of experience, we specialize in offering comprehensive diagnostic services to identify the root cause of your pain. If you’ve been struggling with upper back pain and haven’t found lasting relief, we can arrange for affordable scans, typically within one working day. Medisave can often be used to help cover the cost of these scans, making them more accessible for you.
We also assist with insurance claims, including accident insurance, travel insurance, and company insurance, ensuring that you can access the care you need without added financial stress.
Once we have a clear diagnosis, we can provide targeted treatments, solutions, and non-invasive technology to help alleviate your upper back pain and restore your mobility.
Ready to take control of your upper back pain? Send us a message today to arrange an appointment and begin your journey toward lasting relief from upper back pain.
What To Expect When I Visit The Pain Relief Clinic
A typical visit will involve our doctor first understanding your medical history, concerns and previous experience with other pain treatments.
For patients who have consulted many people but have yet to receive a clear diagnosis, selecting an affordable imaging scan might be recommended to confirm the cause of your pain..
Some patients have already done scans with other doctors for their pain condition but are still not clearly told what they suffer from.
Dr Terence Tan is happy to offer you a second opinion and recommend how best to manage your condition.
We also see patients who already have a confirmed diagnosis from specialist pain doctors, but are "stuck” because treatment options offered are not practical or acceptable.
We can help by discussing options that you might have potentially never been told of.
A common experience is when a patient has already consulted a specialist doctor for pain management and is told to consider orthopaedic surgery which they find too aggressive.
Or they may have seen doctors for their pain and were prescribed painkillers with potential side effects which made them feel uncomfortable.
Many of our patients have also first tried complementary treatments or acupuncture with traditional Chinese pain doctors.
They look for a second opinion after finding any relief experienced from other treatments to be temporary or requiring repetitive treatments, which add up to time and cost.
Especially in such situations, we emphasize using non-invasive medical technology you likely have not been told about .
This can make a big difference to your results.