It’s Not a Knot. It’s a Signal.
If you’ve got a stubborn ache between your shoulder blades that won’t release no matter how much you stretch, massage, or roll it out... it might not be a muscle problem at all.
In fact, that pain is often coming from somewhere completely different.
Specifically: your lower cervical spine and the nerves it connects to.
What Causes That Deep, Stubborn Shoulder Blade Pain?
The medical term is "Sclerotgenous disc referral." But in plain speak?
Your disc is referring pain to a completely different place in your body.
It’s why:
You feel pain in the upper back or shoulder blade
But your shoulder exam looks fine
And your MRI shows "no big deal"
What’s likely happening:
Your cervical disc is overloaded from years of poor movement
Adhesion is restricting motion in key areas like the scalene, levator scapula, and deep cervical flexors
Nerve entrapment is increasing the pressure, sending referral pain down into the shoulder blade and upper back
What Adhesion Has to Do With It
When nerves can’t glide freely because they’re glued down by adhesion...
They get irritated
They refer pain elsewhere
They overload the disc
In this case, it shows up as:
Pain around the medial border of your scapula
Dull, aching, or electric pain down your traps or rhomboids
Sometimes tingling into your arm or hand
And it rarely responds to:
Injections
Stretching
Posture correction alone
Our Fix-First Approach at Resolve
At Resolve, we treat shoulder blade pain differently:
Find: We track the pain pattern back to the cervical spine
Feel: We palpate nerve pathways for entrapments (radial, median, etc.)
Fix: We use precise manual therapy to break up adhesion and restore motion
Restore: We re-test to confirm nerve glide is improving
Gain + Retain: Once nerves are free, we restore strength to stabilize
This process allows us to:
Get fast relief from chronic pain
Prevent nerve overload and disc degeneration
Stop guessing and treat the actual cause
You Don’t Need to Live With It
Persistent shoulder blade pain is a signal. Not a muscle that needs massaged or a posture problem you can out-stretch.
If it’s lasted 12+ weeks, or you've seen 3+ providers without answers, it's time for a different approach.
Let’s track the real source.
→ Start your pain relief journey today and book you consultation
Resolve Soft Tissue & Spine – Charlotte, NC
Zac Breedlove
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