Question
I am 54 old woman 5'3 230 lbs, hurt 3 times at work in grocery store, shoulder & back. First shoulder MRI 2 years ago indicated small tear in rotater cuff. Got phy therapy etc.  4 weeks ago while bending and lifting up to 12 lbs frequently back started burning.  Worked 3 days then went to er, out of work since 7/17/09. ER admin pain shot & prescribed flexaril/vicodin.  took 2 1/2 weeks to be functional.  Neck MRI came back like 20 yrs old.  Back MRI says:  The vertebral body heights are maintained.  The marrow signal intensity demonstrates a normal MR appearance for a patient of this age.  There is preservation of the thoracic spine alighment.  The spinal cord signal intensity appears normal on all pulse sequences.  There is no evidence for a disc herniation or narrowing of the central canal or neural formamina.  IMPRESSION:  Unremarkable MRS of the thoracic spine.  
Why is my middle back on spine by bra strap burning and about three inches to left?  If I take my left hand and place as far as I can reach down on the back of my rt shoulder there is pain but different. What do I do?  Back hurts after standing for about 3 hrs

Answer
Carolyn,

It seems you have muscle spasms.  The ER gave you a muscle relaxant and pain med -- neither of which are effective in the long term for muscle spasms -- or even, as you wrote, even for short-term relief.

Your MRI shows you are in good shape, so all you need to do is learn to control your own muscle tension.

Two options:

1. See a clinical somatic educator who can train you to relax those muscles and to move normally, again.

2. Use a self-help program of somatic exercises, which are a slower version of the same kind of training.

May I refer you to articles of mine on the subject.

http://www.somatics.com/back_pain.htm  (contains "first aid for back pain")
http://www.somatics.com/chronic_back_pain.htm