If you are feeling pain, stiffness and discomfort between the base of your neck and your lumbar (lower back) region, you're not alone. Because a lot of us carry tension in our upper back and shoulders, upper back pain is almost an epidemic in America today. Of course there are several upper back pain causes, many of which are physiological.

What Brings It On

In addition to tension and stress, common upper back pain causes may include:
- muscular weakness
- poor posture
- overuse (repetitive strain)
- accident or injury

In some cases this type of pain can be due to degenerative disc disease, disc herniation or osteoporosis, which can cause a fracture of the vertebrae. Generally however, the first four causes are avoidable and treatable with exercise and/or massage and rest. Nonetheless, people who suffer from this condition are first and foremost looking for back pain remedies.

Back Pain Treatments

Because it is so common, there are many back pain relief products on the market today, They range from highly effective to outright quackery. Anti-inflammatory medications are frequently prescribed, but while these relieve symptoms, they do not always treat the underlying causes.

Chiropractic and massage therapy are popular back pain treatments and are often quite effective. These treatments include joint manipulation and deep tissue as well as trigger point massage, which focuses on a specific place. The former is effective when the problem is related to the joints that connect the backbone to the ribs.

Hot and cold therapy has also been shown to be highly effective, as well as the ancient Chinese technique known as acupuncture. The latter has led to investigations into new methods of relieving back pain.

New Back Pain Remedies

Medical researchers who study chronic pain have recently investigated the use of magnetic energy as well as the use of low levels of electrical energies that naturally accumulate in crystals, ceramic and even human bone tissue. Low-level electro-magnetism, when used in combination with other alternative therapies such as sound and light therapy as well as what is known as microvibration, is showing great promise in addressing upper back pain causes and other forms of chronic pain.