Left shoulder blade pain: spiritual meaning and emotional causes

What left shoulder blade pain is

Left shoulder blade pain is pain over, under or along the edge of the left scapula, the flat triangular bone at the back of the ribcage. Most of the time it is muscular. The muscles that hold the shoulder blade against the ribs tire and knot with long hours at a desk, a phone held between ear and shoulder, a bag always carried on the left, a bad night's sleep, or stress that keeps the upper back braced. A stiff thoracic spine or a trapped nerve in the neck can also be felt there.

The left side deserves extra care, because pain can be referred to the left shoulder blade from organs inside the chest. In a heart attack or angina, discomfort may be felt between or under the shoulder blades as well as in the chest, arm, neck or jaw. This is more common in women, who may notice back or shoulder blade pain with breathlessness, nausea or unusual tiredness rather than a crushing chest pain. Sudden left shoulder blade pain with chest pressure, breathlessness, sweating, nausea, or pain spreading to the arm or jaw needs emergency help at once: call 999 in the UK, 911 in the US or 112 in the EU.

Other causes to know: a sudden tearing pain between the shoulder blades can come from the aorta and is an emergency. Pain that is sharper when you breathe in can come from the lung or its lining, including a clot. Inflammation of the pancreas can cause severe upper tummy pain that goes through to the back. Shingles can start as a burning band of pain before the rash shows. Ordinary muscular pain settles with gentle movement, heat, simple painkillers, better posture and sometimes physiotherapy. The page on shoulder blade pain covers the condition as a whole.

The emotional meaning of left shoulder blade pain

Spiritually, the shoulder blade sits where the trunk, which carries who you are, meets the arms, which carry what you want to express and do, as extensions of the heart's energy. Pain here points to friction between what you are and what you show through your actions. In the map of the left and right sides of the body, the left side carries the receptive, feminine principle, in men and women alike: feeling, receiving, intuition, the home, and the women in your life. The left shoulder blade is given a precise nuance: it is linked to your partner and your children.

A disagreement you keep to yourself

Tension or knots under the left shoulder blade are linked to a disagreement at home that has not been spoken. It may be about how the children are raised, how money is spent, how much time you have together, or a decision your partner made without you. You hold it in your back rather than putting it on the table, perhaps to keep the peace, perhaps because you are not sure you have the right to object.

Walked on by those you love

A sore shoulder blade is linked to letting yourself be walked on. On the left, the feet that step over your limits are usually familiar ones: a partner who takes your yes for granted, children who expect you to absorb everything, a parent who still decides for you. Because you love them, the trampling is harder to name.

A shield across the back

When you are walked on, you start to need protection. Spiritually, the shoulder blades become a shield: muscles braced, back hardened, heart guarded from behind. On the left, that shield often protects your feelings at home. It keeps you safe, but it also keeps people out, and the warmth you would like to give and receive cannot get through.

Feeling less than in your own family

Behind the shield there is often a situation in which you feel beneath the others: a less good parent, a less interesting partner, the one whose opinion counts least at the table. You go quiet and stop putting yourself forward. The left shoulder blade may ask where at home you have made yourself small.

Waiting for things to change

When you live all this passively, waiting for the family to change of its own accord, your energy drains. The shoulder blade stays tight, and the arms, which were meant to reach out, hold back. For a man, the stuck point may be voicing or welcoming emotion at home. For a woman, it may be a part of her own femininity she has put aside to keep everyone else comfortable.

The other side

Right shoulder blade pain is linked to work: something there that annoys you, a decision imposed on you, an authority you feel crushed by. The left shoulder blade asks what you swallow at home, the right what you endure at work. The page on shoulder blade pain holds both, along with pain between the shoulder blades.

A gentler way to hold it

• Take quiet time first. A few minutes alone each day, to come back into contact with who you really are.
• Name the disagreement. Write it down plainly, for yourself, before deciding how to say it.
• Then say what you need. Choose a calm moment and speak about one thing, not everything at once.
• Set one limit. Pick one place where you let yourself be walked on at home, and hold a small boundary there.
• Lower the shield a little. Let one person close to you see what you feel.
• Take one step on your own behalf. A small action gives energy back where waiting drains it.
• Care for the back. Change position often, swap the bag to the other shoulder, and use warmth and gentle stretching.