Pain in upper right back

[Justin]

This morning I woke up with a serious pain somewhere in my upper right back, possibly in the area of the upper trapezius, though its hard to localize (seems to move around when I apply pressure to any given spot), so it may be something deep. The main sensation is a sharp pain when I tilt my head/neck forward a certain way, but it doesn't just have to be forward.

Any thoughts on what this might be? My parents thought it might be a pinched nerve, but after what I googled on pinched nerves (e.g. this ), that doesn't sound quite right.

I think it is from something I did in jiu-jitsu class yesterday afternoon (even though I didn't feel it until I woke up this morning), because the same thing happened a couple of weeks ago, the morning after an evening jiu-jitsu class. Both times much of what we were doing was throws (the beginning movements, anyway), rolls, ground holds and escapes, etc. So I'm fairly sure I could've tweaked something, but how could I not know it at the time?!

[FourMat]

If you feel around the area that hurts, do you feel a lump, like a muscle that's all bound up? I get pain every 6 months or so in my back (in the area that you described) after I've slept wrong. I can feel a somewhat hard spot where my muscle has spasmed and formed a mild knot. Unless I reach back and feel where the knot really is, it's hard to tell where the pain is actually coming from. When I move my head forward or to the side in certian ways it really feels like it's stretching the muscle and the pain gets really intense.

I had seen the doctor about 7 years ago, and all he wanted to do was prescribe muscle relaxers. I don't like taking those kinds of drugs so I just waited it out. Every time it happens, I just wait it out, and the muscle finally relaxes and goes back to normal after a few days.

About 8 months ago I got a new bed with more top padding, and since then I haven't had the problem. I'm not going to say that it won't again, but it might help. Sounds like a bad nights sleep thats going to take a few days to get over.

[Justin]

No, no lump. I really don't think it's muscle tightness or soreness. I know what those feel like, and this is not it. As I said, even feeling around I can't figure out where the pain starts from, only a general area.

I'm going to try to see a chiropractor this afternoon. I know this will go away in about another week, but I want to know what it is and how to prevent it from happening again. It sucks.