Upper back pain post-rads? Worried of course!!!!

Anonymous

It's on my radiated (right) side...I had some bleed-thru radiation because that part of my back turned tan and peeled a bit.  I had whole-breast radiation and 6 boosts to the tumor site.

It feels like I'm stretching a muscle back there somewhere...near my shoulder blade, but I can't tell if it's a tendon/muscle thing or not.  I'm also experiencing a lot of tightness in my pectoral region and under my armpit, but still have full range of motion because I do so much regular yoga.

I only feel the back thing (slight pain) when I stretch it...or push on that tender spot with a finger. It just started...after my six month check up in September. It doesn't seem to be getting worse, but not better either.

I finished rads end of May this year.  Should I be worried?  Of course I am!  Advice? Thoughts?

Anonymous

I guess no one has ever had this problem before...judging from the lack of posts.  Maybe I should have posted in "worried about recurrence" instead.

momof3boys

Bump

ro-berta

claireinaz..  sorry you are having discomfort. I see that you are farther out from rads then I am so I don,t know if I will be much help hon. I do know that I have tightness in chest area and under the arm ( alot at times) If I remember correctly I have heard this can be common. Will you be seeing a DR. soon to ask these questions for at least some peace of mind,( i told you I wouldn,t be much help hahaha) but I wanted you to know that you aren,t alone . I myself am having issues with my radiated side. Did you have WBR?? Hopefully someone with more knowledge will jump in soon . Please let me know how you are doing and keep posting it is usually more quiet on the boards on the weekend.

mamabee

I had 25 WBR and axilla treatments and 8 boosts on my left side following a UMX with TE. I finished about 2 months ago. My muscles on that side are all still tight and my RO told me to expect that. He compared the radiation on my muscles to cooking bacon in a microwave - think of how that shrinks up. He said it was important to keep stretching and, like you, I do yoga but I'm still tight. I'm thinking about going for PT in the hope that there might be other exercises that would help more. I also have a sore spot on my back but it's closer to my underarm than my shoulder blade - it hurts to push on it but no pain when I stretch there. I'm not concerned about it - maybe if it got worse I would be? 

Claire, your pain may just be a pulled muscle/tendon? If it were me, I wouldn't do anything about it unless it got worse.

Hope this helps.... 

BLinthedesert

Claire,  I also have had a lot of shoulder and back pain post radiation - along with what was diagnosed as adhesions from my collarbone down to the end of my rib cage.  I am a runner, and I swear I thought I had lung damage because I couldn't breath when I was running fast.  Well, I talked to one of my "running" therapists, and he did some cross-friction massage along my back, and under my arm, and it has worked wonders.  My therapist told me that it is very common to have both upper back and shoulder problems -- even though the original "problem" is with the upper chest aread.  If I were you, I would look for a massage therapist that specializes in breast patients.  I think you can find them through either your local American Cancer Society website, or even through the lymphedema websites.  

Here are some exercises that I am doing in between visits.  I have read a  lot of articles that say that adhesions are so common after all breast surgery - and radiation exacerbates it a lot.  

Good luck to you, please let me know what you find out ... if you are near the Phoenix/Chandler area, I would be happy to give you the name of my therapist (he is also a friend of mine -- if you don't feel comfortable with a male I am sure he can recommend someone else for you).   

Letlet

I finished rads in May of 2011 perhaps a month after that I immediately started physical therapy for many issues - my axillary dissection and also to help me post radiation. My therapist explained to me that while my skin had healed from the rads, inside was a different story. She explained to me that pretty much what was underneath my skin had melded together and she worked painstakingly to undo the damage. I've had sessions that she just worked on separating the muscle in between my ribs because they were stuck together. Everything was just tight, tight, tight. She would just spend that hour massaging certain specific parts on my radiated side to "release the fascia" as she would call it. SHe also would use kinesio tape too .

Anyway, I know it doesn't sound exactly what you are experiencing but I had extreme tightness in the same areas and it is much better now with PT.

Denise-G

I finished rads on July 27, 2012.  I had and continue to have a lot of pain.  I have to do many stretches and exercises.  My Lymphedema Specialist helps me with this as well as LE. My rad tech described that your insides become like fried bacon.  Didn't like the visual, but it made me understand why everything tightened up! 

BLinthedesert

ewwwww, Denise - that is so funny!  Fried bacon indeed!!  

It is seriously tight -- and amazing how sore it can get.  I run about 2.5 hours on Sundays, and I tell you, my chest just aches at night afterward.  

Carry on ladies, heal well!! 

dlb823

Claire, do you have any truncal LE?  I do, and one of the places it manifests when I have a flare (like when I over exercise in the heat) is right in the area you're describing.  When it would first happen, my thought process was very similar to yours -- radiation damage? mets? exercise injury?.  But then I noticed that it would come and go with my LE flares, which may also be due somewhat to RT (now that Denise has given us that bacon image, LOL!), but mostly I believe to losing 16 nodes.  

Do you have swelling or tenderness anywhere else?  Mine's mostly in the undearm, very upper arm and outer breast area on my mx side, but obviously some of it is extending into my back.      Deanna 

Nanka

Hi, I too have back pain. It doesn't hurt all the time but sometimes it shows up as a pinch or a squeeze on either side of my spine. It sort of feels like bones are rubbing together but I go the touch the area and it seems to be the muscles aching. I am 5 weeks out of chemo and 2 weeks into radiation. My Docs and Chiro say that my body is trying to get back to normal after all this chemo and rads, hence the aches and pains.

Anonymous

Dear ladies,

Thanks for the replies.  I guess it speaks to my post-recovery journey that I posted this quite a while ago and now have just come back to the site to see what others have to say. 

I have 11 nodes removed. Deana, thanks for reminding me that might have some affect on the tightening in that area. I do not have LE of any kind, though.

I do feel how tight my chest muscles and underarm mucles are when I stretch, either during bikram (yoga) or otherwise. But stretching oddly enough feels so good, even if it hurts a bit, so I'm going to keep doing it.  

The shoulder blade tenderness seems to be similar. I was on a river trip for my work two weeks ago, and didn't have time to do regular yoga.  The area wasn't tender at all. When I picked up my regular yoga practice when I got back, I felt the tenderness again.  It's not getting worse, and comes and goes (I don't feel it right now when I dig my fingers in there) so I'm not going to worry about it anymore.

I'm having a bit of anniversary anxiety (a year ago I was going through all the PET scans, regular scans, formulating a tx plan, buying a wig, etc.) so I'm more anxious than normal. I expect every Oct for a few years might give me some vague uneasiness.

Hope you all are well and happy, BC sisters, and thanks for lending support when I needed it!

Claire in AZ