I spent like 3 years dealing with this burning spot under my shoulder blade. Rhomboid pain is the worst because you can't really reach it effectively. I was obsessed with foam rolling and using a lacrosse ball against the wall. It would feel better for maybe an hour, but the knot would just come back the next day, sometimes even worse.
I finally realized that the muscle wasn't "tight" in a short way, it was "taut" because it was overstretched and weak. I sit at a computer all day so my shoulders were constantly rounded forward, dragging those back muscles apart. Stretching it was actually making it worse because I was lengthening a muscle that was already struggling to hold on.
The fix wasn't massage, it was hammering the rear delts and mid-back strength. I completely switched my training to prioritize pulling volume over pushing.
Here is the routine that actually worked for me:
- Pull ups: I stopped just trying to get my chin over the bar and focused on pulling my elbows down into my back pockets. If you can't do many, use bands.
- Dumbbell Rows: Went heavy on these. 3 sets of 8-10.
- Kelso Shrugs: These were honestly the main key. It's like a shrug, but you lean forward on a bench (chest supported) and focus purely on squeezing your shoulder blades together, not shrugging up to your ears.
- Rear delt flys: High reps (15-20). You need to wake those muscles up because they are usually dormant from hunching over.
I do this twice a week now. I haven't had to use a lacrosse ball or foam roller in months. The pain just disappeared once the muscles got strong enough to hold my posture naturally.
I wrote a longer breakdown of the whole 3-year timeline on medium if you want to read the full story, but honestly, just start strengthening your upper back and stop stretching it.
https://medium.com/@lomoloderac/my-3-year-battle-with-unfixable-rhomboid-pain-c0206c695d80