Help Diagnosing/Treating Source of Pain
I have been dealing with chronic pain in my upper back on the right side between my spine and shoulder blade for close to 10 years now. The pain is more of a dull, static, “pressing” pain that stays in one spot. A picture is attached with my pain area circled in red. I am wondering if anyone else has pain in this area and if you were able to determine what is causing it and have you had any success treating it?
I have done several MRIs of my spine and shoulder blade. The shoulder blade shows no issues. The spine shows several herniated discs in my cervical and thoracic spine - the most significant at C5/C6 and T2/T4.
I have no history of injury to the back, spine, or shoulder. I have been to several pain management doctors and each has their own theory (most believe it is pain derived from the herniated discs contacting a nerve root), but none have been able to provide successful treatment of pain relief yet.
I have tried traditional physical therapy, dry needling, cupping, spinal decompression, chiropractic treatments, trigger point injections, epidural steroid injections, PRP and stem cell injections, and none of them have had any effect in reducing my pain. The next step I am going to discuss with my doctor is some kind of nerve block called a radio frequency ablation.
This pain is truly debilitating and prevents me from doing many things that I enjoy. I am desperate to find relief and get my life back. If anyone has any similar pain history that can provide any help with treatment or at least ideas of what could be causing this pain I would greatly appreciate your input.