Why do I have sharp pain in the middle of upper back?

Severe upper-middle back pain. What could be the cause of it?

• I was laying in bed last night and got up to do something, and as I was walking I was struck with severe pain in the upper middle part of my back. It felt like it was just going completely across my back. I could hardly breathe it was so painful and it nearly brought me to tears. My mom gave me a pain pill tonight, which helped a lot, but I'm still in a lot of pain, mostly when I move a certain way, but it's enough pain to notice its there when I'm not moving. I woke up many times last night when trying to move, and was brought to tears. It's more concentrated to about right below my right shoulder blade. I will randomly have very sharp pains under my right rib cage and sometimes lower back. I have no idea what I could have done to make this happen, but it's extremely painful. Any ideas on what it might be??

• Answer:

  Sounds like it could be a muscle tear. Based on what you've said, I don't think it's a broken bone, but it could also be a fracture. The excruciating pain points to either a fracture or a sprain. You should go see a doctor ASAP, though, to get an accurate diagnosis.