The Source / A field guide to feeling better
Upper & Mid Back
The middle of the back connects the rib cage, shoulder blades and spine. Pain here needs context, not a posture verdict.
Can you point to it?
Select a label to explore its side of the body
Choose the closest area.
Pick a point on the close-up, or choose from the list below. Each one covers what might be going on, the details that help at a visit, and the research behind it.
Put the symptoms in context
An exam here looks at movement and load, and also at injury, illness and symptoms outside the back. Research on low-back pain doesn’t automatically carry over to thoracic (mid-back) pain.
Follow the question
Explore upper & mid back
Each guide explains what the condition is, what the research shows and where it runs out, and when it calls for a different kind of care than ours. An exam is how we look for which one, if any, fits you.
- Condition guide
Back pain
Common back-pain patterns, the warning signs, and what progress looks like in everyday life.
Understand this condition - Condition guide
Scoliosis
Spinal curves, how they’re monitored, and why managing symptoms isn’t the same as changing the curve.
Understand this condition - Condition guide
Work-related pain
How your job, any past injury and a practical plan for getting back to work and activity fit together.
Understand this condition
Which guide fits your upper or mid back pain?
Pain here can come from more than one place, so it's split across three guides. The back pain guide covers general questions and warning signs. For a diagnosed spinal curve, the scoliosis guide explains monitoring, symptoms and specialist care. If work plays a part, the work injury guide can help you prepare a practical history.
We don't assume pain between the shoulder blades is a posture problem. Timing matters, and so does any injury, any change with breathing, or symptoms beyond your back.
Does low back pain research apply to the mid back?
Not automatically. Much back pain research is about the lower back, and it doesn't carry straight over to the thoracic spine. The study below, on bracing for selected adolescents with scoliosis, is here for the scoliosis guide. It's about those teenagers and their braces, not an ordinary ache between the shoulder blades.
Follow the evidence
Research, with context.
Selected published sources behind what we've written, each with what it found and what it can't tell us. We give you both halves because no paper can diagnose you or predict how your own care will go.
Effects of bracing in adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis
242 adolescents with the usual indications for bracing, in randomized and patient-preference groups.
What it foundIn the randomized group, 75% assigned bracing versus 42% assigned observation reached skeletal maturity without progression to a curve of at least 50 degrees.
What it can't tell usIt supports appropriate orthopedic assessment and bracing for selected adolescents. It gives no evidence that adjustments reverse scoliosis.
Publication details & citation
Weinstein et al. Effects of bracing in adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis. New England Journal of Medicine. 2013. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1307337.
Read the publication record
Our editorial policy explains how to read these sources and what our clinical-review labels mean.