There are several muscles in the middle back, and this part of your back runs from the base of your neck to the bottom of the ribs. Pulling or straining a muscle in the middle back can be a painful issue, and it’s a common source of back pain. It can keep you from doing many routine tasks like reaching for or lifting objects, and there is one middle back muscle that is the most commonly strained: the latissimus dorsi.
What is the latissimus dorsi?
The latissimi dorsi are muscles that are found in the middle back, and these muscles are more commonly called the lats. The lats are very large compared to the other back muscles. They’re attached to the spine from the T7 vertebra to the base of your spine; the other end of this muscle is much narrower, and it’s attached to the humerus bone in the upper arm. Since it covers such a large area of the back, the lats are the middle back muscles that are most likely to be pulled.
What does the latissimus dorsi do?
The lats are one of the hardest-working muscles in your back, and this means they’re also the most commonly pulled middle back muscles. One of their jobs is to help you pull your body upward with your arms. This is why this muscle is so important for exercises like chin-ups, and activities like swimming and rock climbing rely heavily on the lats as well. These muscles also help support the body as it bends to the side.
Lats also play an important role in your ability to breathe. In this context, the job of the lats is to help lift and expand the rib cage as you breathe, and this gives your lungs more space to inflate. The lats also help you exhale. They do this by allowing the rib cage to drop and contract, and this has a squeezing effect that helps air leave the lungs.
Another job these hardworking muscles have is to help move your arm. Their attachment to the upper arm bone allows them to be used to rotate the arm inward, and they also help move the arm toward the center of the body. In addition, the lats are used together with the shoulder muscles to raise your arms above your head.
Panther Physical Therapy can help you treat a pulled middle back muscle
If you’ve pulled a lat or another middle back muscle, our team at Panther Physical Therapy can help you treat your injury. We provide free screenings, and our team can use this tool to determine which middle back muscle you’ve strained. Using this information, we can build you a therapy plan personalized to your needs, and your strain could benefit from multiple therapy methods, such as:
Contact our team today for more information or to schedule an appointment to begin treating your muscle injury.