As I've been running, I've been noticing more and more that my back between my shoulders is becoming sorer and sorer. I'm constantly trying to stretch it out (knowing that it's only a temporary solution) and I wear sport bras that are designed to keep the girls packed tightly. My exercise routine is a 30 minute jog 3x a week, two days apart (Mon, Wed, Fri) and I run around a track. Admittedly, I'd taken a 6-ish week break from running up until this week, but I do remember feeling so sore all the time.

I don't want to give up my jogging. I prefer to keep moving forward and pushing myself rather than, what I see as, taking a step back and walking. I'm a 36DD/E and up until now I was prepared to continue and ignore the pain the best that I can, though I'm now worried about any long-term problems I could be creating.

In a perfect world, I'd have already had kids and wouldn't need my girls for that and I'd have a reduction. I do plan on having this in the future.

Now, to my reason for writing this (): Has anyone experienced the same problem and found a way to get around it? I could get a professional massage, I just don't have the $$ to get one every week or two and I know there has to be a better, smarter way to keep jogging and not be sore at the end. On a side note: are there any long-term problems you know of that might come from pushing through this pain?

As I said, I don't want to give up jogging/running because I'm enjoying it and I see myself participating in competitions.

Could it be your bra? I wear the enell, which is designed like a vest. Like a totally restrictive scary vest.lol. Maybe you could look up some yoga moves?

I agree to check out an Enell bra. They're $$$ and ugly, but totally worth the money. It's the only sports bra that works for me.

enell are the only bras that can contain and support me during exercise. Expensive but they last forever.

I tend to stay away from yoga because I torn a ligament the last time I attempted it lol

I did a google search and I see the Enell bras are sold in NZ, so I'll have a look into it. It's good to know there is SOMETHING out there

Hmm...There are a few possibilities besides boobs, though of course that is a strong possibility. I get that pain between my shoulder blades when I start running too. I've been told it could be a) bad form when running (so check out some videos on running form) and/or bad posture in general b) shallow breathing or c) weak core.

So you could try improving your posture and running form, strengthen core, and make sure you are breathing properly, and see if any of these help.

I've taken a few days to think about what you said and it makes sense. I don't know if it's my boob weight or that I like to look down when walking or running (always have!), but lately I have noticed that I lean forward a bit while I run. This is especially so when I get tired near the end of my run. I guess I feel that I'll fall backwards if I try to stand up straight, plus I'm used to sitting hunched on my chair. Another thing I've noticed is that my back is sore even when I haven't run (I took a scheduled week off for my TOM).

I'll look into it and try running more upright to see if that helps.

P.S. This is makes sense also because when I saw my doctor about my back pains, she did say that I needed to strengthen my core. I haven't done this because I thought running was doing it for me! Oh well. We have a bo-flex, so I'll get onto doing some exercises on that.

Rhiko, I'm sorry to hear you tore a ligament doing yoga. I hope you'll give it another chance one day, but with a good class that caters to beginners. I'm sorry to say there are lots of mediocre yoga instructors out there; in fact, they outnumber the good ones. A good yoga teacher will explain how to align everything, and they'll walk around and give individual students personal help. Put simply, you need an actual teacher. If an instructor just does her thing and leaves everyone to follow as best they can, she's not a teacher. If she walks around the class pretending to check how everybody's doing but never corrects a posture, she's not a teacher.

I have strong feelings about this; maybe you can tell. I've been doing yoga for many years, despite the fact that I put out my back early on before I got a good teacher. A lot of people get hurt in yoga classes that aren't properly taught, and it's mostly preventable. Rule number one in yoga is, if it hurts, don't do it.

Oh, and if posture is the reason for your upper back pain, yoga can be great for strengthening core and improving posture. Pilates too. Have you tried Pilates?

I get this too from bad posture. During the school year I'm always hunched over on my laptop or pouring over books. In high school I saw the athletic trainer about it and there was one stretch she showed me that seemed to help. Grab the door handle of a closed, sturdy door with one hand, your feet close to the door. Then lean your upper body back, so you're putting a decent amount of your weight on that arm. It helps stretch out the shoulder blade area. Hope that wasn't too confusing and that it helps

I haven't put serious thought into Pilates or Yoga. When I did Yoga that one time, it was a non-lecture day for my Early Childhood course. I'll have a look into it. There should be classes for it at the university I go to!

Thank you for letting me know it works! I saw a similar exercise a while back (on the internet I think) where you put your arm out, turn your palm so it's upside down, put your other hand in it and then push it straight back.

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Thank you all for your suggestions so far! They have given me lots of ideas on how to alleviate my shoulder/back pain. Yesterday I made sure I kept a straight back as I ran and it helped a lot! My back is still sore, but not as much. I didn't fall backwards either lol