Question
Hi there Gary,

I am visiting my grandparents for the weekend and my grandfather, who has severe arthritis fell. O had to lift him up. He is extremely heavy. I was able to lift him up but I hurt my back while doing that. Now about it has been an hour since it happened and my back really hurts especially my upper back. Can you please tell me what you think I should do. It feels stiff and the muscle feels strained. Thanks for our help.

Sam

Answer
Hi Sam,

Hello,

Yes, lifting a full grown man can certainly put your body in some awkward positions where you may have strained some muscles in your upper back. They may have seized up a bit after some activity that is not usual. When they seize up the nerves get pulled on and you experience pain.

The good news is that you can probably fix it yourself if you are willing spend a little time learning to do so.  AND you may even be able to help your grandfather with some of his arthritis pain once you learn a bit about how to fix your own pain (and that would be very cool).

What I recommend won't help if you've cracked a rib or ruptured a disc in your upper back, but it also won't make it any worse.  I also doubt that's what's going on.

I'm going to send you to my upper back pain relief page on my website where I show you how to release the tissue that causes most upper back pain. Everything is free, so don't worry. Here's the link:
http://www.do-it-yourself-joint-pain-relief.com/upper-back-pain-relief.html  

Mostly, you'll need to lie on a tennis ball, with the ball pressing into any tender spots in your back, and then move your torso a bit to get the tight muscle tissue to release.  There's very specific way to do this for it to be effective.

If you think of your overly tight muscles like a dish rag that has been twisted tight, when you do the techniques I show you, the way I show you, it tells your brain (your cerebellum) to release the tight tissue.  Most likely when you release the tight tissue your pain will go away.

I hope this helps.
Best,
Gary