Question
the 26th of January will be my 3 week anniversary of my horrible pulled muscle in my back(im not positive its a pulled muscle, but thats just what my coach said). hi, im emilie im 14 and im a competitive gymnast, i pulled a muscle in my back and the pain sometimes gets so bad that i cant breath, the muscle is right  under my left shoulder blade and off to the side, i cant move without it hurting and I've even taken advil and other pain relievers similar but nothing seems to work and my coach said that it should be gone at tops in 2 weeks, its been 3 weeks almost and barely any improvement. I've tried icy-hot and heating bags but still nothing. taking a break from gymnastics is not an option right now, i have a big meet in 2 weeks that i need to train for. so my question is, is it possible that its not a pulled muscle? and if it is is there anything i can do at home to help the pain? and will it get any worse than it already is?
thank you so so so much!
emilie

Answer

http://somatics.com/em Hi, Emilie,

"Pulled muscle" really means "muscle spasm".  Yes, I think it's that.  

They don't "go away"; there is no "away".  They relax and that frees your movement and breathing.

However, you may need to do some movement training to get specific control of that muscle or muscles.  When you do, the spasm will relax; pain relievers do nothing about spasms; they only mask pain, at best.

I've posted two somatic exercises that may do it for you.

See
http://somatics.com/emergency_back_care.htm
If you turn your head to the side of the spasm, you can find the position that most accurately reaches it while doing the movements.

The page also has an explanatory article.  Your coach should read it.

Your fastest help will come from a clinical somatic educator, if there's one near you.  See
http://hannasomatics.com/practitioners

If you need more, contact me again and I can make a recommendation for an instructional self-help program that you can download.

regard,
Lawrence Gold