Back discomfort is difficult to resolve on our own. Been there, done that. Our shoulders aren't built to reach our own backs.

Best thing I can suggest is a heavy duty consumer grade kneading fingers massage doodad. One of my friends has a couple and they're wonderful. When I visit to cook for friends at her home I get to use the back massagers when taking a break. They're almost as good as the commercial grade kneading tables used by some chiropractors and massage therapists.

After being hit by a car while I was riding my bike this spring my right shoulder was broken and had a grade 4 separation. The left shoulder had a lesser injury, but I worsened it significantly by trying to massage my own right shoulder and shoulder blade. Pretty soon I had two useless flippers. I had to take it really easy for weeks to let the left shoulder heal.

I had a decent chiropractor after my previous serious back and neck injury in 2001. Personally I think most stuff chiropractors do is B.S. -- the alignment, clicky-pen thingie, etc. But this guy was powerfully strong, a former military special forces and lumberjack who got into chiropractic after being badly injured on the job. I mostly went to him for the back cracking, massage and neck manipulations. I wouldn't trust anyone else with my neck, but because he was so incredibly strong he could do subtle manipulations effortlessly. I think he'd have been just as good as a massage therapist, minus the chiropractic mumbo jumbo.

Unfortunately I haven't found another massage therapist as good. I know several folks who use massage therapists, but none of them is happy with their therapists. And I wouldn't choose a woman or man massage therapist who wasn't reasonably big and strong. I've had chiropractors and massage therapists who were women or small, slender men and they weren't strong enough to do the job.

Another problem is massage therapists are weird. Maybe it's the job, the intimate personal contact, and they need to develop some defense mechanisms that manifest in odd ways. But most of them seem to rush through, and get defensive if I ask for attention to a specific part of the upper back, neck and shoulders, and to skip the stuff that doesn't hurt, like the lower back. And I've known some massage therapists outside of their professional context -- as casual acquaintances, or on other unrelated jobs. They tend to be very adamant about not touching anyone unless absolutely necessary, and only as a paid massage therapist. It's like they're uncomfortable with physical contact, yet chose a profession that demands it.

And most chiropractors don't want to be regarded as "merely" massage therapists. So rather than use their hands to massage and manipulate, they'll use various devices -- kneading tables, electro-zappers that alternately contract/relax muscles (I like those but some folks find them painful) -- anything to avoid touching clients other than for chiropractor type manipulations and adjustments.

So I'm still looking for a good massage therapist.