Physiotherapy
Upper Back Pain Physiotherapy in Singapore
Written by Shiv Mohan Banka and Ching Yee, Principal Physiotherapists at Phoenix Rehab.Clinically reviewed by Louise Yow, Principal Physiotherapist & Director, AHPC A1300363H.Last reviewed 6 October 2026.
Upper back pain is rarely coming from where it hurts. The ache between the shoulder blades is usually the place that is paying for something else.
Assessment-led treatment for pain between the shoulder blades, thoracic stiffness, and the neck and upper back pain that builds through a working week. Five clinics across Singapore. No referral needed.
One 45-minute appointment, $230 nett, no GST. Assessment and treatment in the same visit
The problem
It builds through the week and eases on holiday
The pattern is familiar enough to be its own diagnosis. Fine on Monday morning. A dull ache between the shoulder blades by Wednesday afternoon. Worse by Friday. Better after a weekend or a week away, and back again by the following Wednesday.
That pattern tells you something useful: the tissue is not damaged, it is loaded. Something about how you sit, how your neck and shoulders work, or how little the upper back moves through the day is asking one small area to absorb the difference. Treating the sore spot alone is why it keeps returning.
The place that hurts and the place that caused it are often two different places.
Where are you right now?
Four situations we see with upper backs
- It came on at a desk. The most common one, and it is usually endurance rather than posture. Positions do not hurt. Positions held without a break do.
- It is sharp and catches with a breath. A rib joint pattern. Uncomfortable, dramatic, and usually straightforward.
- There is pain or pins and needles into the arm. That points at the neck rather than the upper back, and it changes what is examined.
- It has been there for years and comes and goes. Worth measuring rather than managing. Thoracic range and trunk endurance are both testable.
What we find
What is usually behind it
Muscle strain or overload
Overstretched or torn muscle fibers from a sudden movement, lifting, or repetition. Pain, inflammation, and a limited, guarded range.
Sustained postures
Not “bad posture” so much as one posture held too long. The upper back stiffens, the neck and shoulders take up the slack, and the area between the blades complains.
Referred pain
Pain felt in the upper back that originates elsewhere, often the neck or the shoulder. This is why an assessment looks above and below the sore area, not only at it.
Joint degeneration
Osteoarthritis affecting the spine and the joints around it. Common with age, frequently visible on scans in people with no pain, and manageable.
Disc problems
Less common in the thoracic spine than the lower back, but it happens. Pain, tingling or numbness that travels is assessed differently to muscle pain.
Lower back pain and sciatica are covered on the back pain page.
How recovery is run
4-Stage Structured Recovery
Every plan runs on the Phoenix Recovery Protocol: four stages, with measurable criteria to move between them. You get a stage diagnosis at the first appointment, in writing.
1. Calm & Protect
Settle the pain and the muscle guarding around it.
2. Move & Mobilize
Give the thoracic spine and ribs back the rotation and extension they have lost.
3. Rebuild & Strengthen
Build the neck, shoulder blade and upper back endurance that a working day actually demands.
4. Return & Perform
A full day at the desk, the gym, carrying a bag or a child, without it building again.
Also part of the plan
Work setup and dry needling
Your actual desk
Screen height, chair, keyboard distance and how often you move matter more than any single exercise for pain that follows a working week. We go through your real setup, not a diagram, and change the few things that carry the most load.
Dry needling
A thin needle into a tight band of muscle to produce a local twitch response, which reduces tightness and improves how the area moves. Used where it helps, alongside exercise rather than instead of it.
Who you will see
Physiotherapists who treat necks and upper backs
Louise Yow
Back and neck pain, postural conditions, and the ergonomics that stop them returning.
Serangoon
Ching Yee
Neck and shoulder pain from work-related strain, muscle imbalance and sedentary work. Dry needling.
Tanjong Pagar
Shiv Mohan Banka
Spinal dysfunction and exercise rehabilitation for muscle imbalance. Principal Physiotherapist since 2009.
Orchard, Tampines
If it has stalled
Months of stretching, and it still builds by Wednesday
You reset your shoulders at the desk and it lasts twenty minutes. The massage helps for a day and a half. By Wednesday afternoon it is back in the same spot between the shoulder blade and the spine.
That is not an upper back that recovered. That is an upper back that got used to being managed.
The Stalled Recovery Review is three appointments over three weeks with the same physiotherapist, because what a neck and upper back do under a full week of desk load cannot be read in one visit. The first appointment finds what is limiting it. The next two measure how it responds to being loaded. $690, nett, no GST, which is three appointments at $230.
What it costs
One price, stated once
Assessment & Treatment
One standard 45-minute physiotherapy appointment, nett, no GST. Treatment starts in the same appointment.
- History and physical examination, including the neck and shoulders
- Thoracic movement and shoulder blade control tested
- A stage diagnosis against the four stages
- A written plan, a home program and your work setup reviewed
- Your next review dated into the diary
No packages and no discounts for booking a course.
Questions we get asked
Is my posture the cause?
Usually not on its own. Research has not found one correct posture that prevents pain, and plenty of people sit the way you do without symptoms. What reliably matters is how long a position is held without moving, and how much capacity the area has. Both are changeable.
Do I need a scan?
Usually not. Scans help when the history or examination points to something that needs imaging, and your physiotherapist will say if that applies. Degeneration on a thoracic scan is common in people with no pain at all.
Do I need a doctor’s referral?
No. You can book directly. Bring any scans or reports you have. Some insurers ask for a referral before they reimburse, so check your policy.
Is a massage enough?
Massage often helps the pain in the short term, and we offer it. It does not by itself change the capacity of the area, which is why the relief tends to fade by mid-week. Used alongside the strengthening stage rather than instead of it, it earns its place.
How many appointments will I need?
It depends on how long it has been there and what the assessment finds. Your physiotherapist writes the number each stage needs and tells you the total at the first appointment, rather than asking you to buy a package first.
Which clinics treat upper back pain?
All five. Orchard, Tampines, Serangoon and Tanjong Pagar now, with Jurong East opening 20 October 2026.
Where we are
Clinics across Singapore
ORCHARD
400 Orchard Road #12-12
Orchard Towers, S238875
NS22 Orchard MRT
Physiotherapy and hand therapy in Orchard →
WhatsApp 8800 1830TAMPINES
9 Tampines Grande #01-20
Asia Green, S528735
EW2DT32 Tampines MRT
Physiotherapy and hand therapy in Tampines →
WhatsApp 8780 9608SERANGOON
265 Serangoon Central Drive #04-269
S550265 · Lift C only
NE12CC13 Serangoon MRT
Physiotherapy and hand therapy in Serangoon →
WhatsApp 8892 4121TANJONG PAGAR
10 Anson Road #02-77A
International Plaza, S079903
EW15 Tanjong Pagar MRT
Physiotherapy and hand therapy in Tanjong Pagar →
WhatsApp 8227 7074JURONG EAST
2 Venture Drive #02-02
Vision Exchange, S608526
NS1EW24 Jurong East MRT
Opening 20 October 2026
Physiotherapy and hand therapy in Jurong East →
WhatsApp 8242 7340Tell us when it builds and when it eases
What you do for work, when in the week it starts, and what makes it better. That pattern tells us more than the location of the ache.
Clinical statements on this page require clinician sign-off before publication. Physiotherapists assess, treat, exercise, educate and refer; doctors diagnose, inject, prescribe and order imaging. If we find something that needs medical review we refer you back to your doctor.
What our patients say
Google reviews from our clinics in Singapore.
