Exercise is very good for you, as you're probably already well aware, but it's especially advantageous as a upper back pain treatment, assuming you adopt some easy guidelines, and do the low impact workouts. Here's some easy and effective physical exercises that should help relieve pain and provide some gratefully received chronic back pain relief:
Shift and lift: The "shift and lift" is an exercise that will strengthen the muscles of your lower back and hips (in particular) while you're sitting down. This is therefore something that you can practice while you are at work, owing to the nature of the 'lifting' component of the exercise, I wouldn't recommend you do this while talking to others in your office, for example. They may wonder what on earth you're up to!
Regardless of that, this is a very effective exercise for reducing any stiffness or soreness that will often arise from sitting in the same position for long periods of time, and it's also a great way to strengthen those muscles too!
You start by sitting in your chair, relax and then clench the muscle in one buttock and hold for several seconds, lifting your glute slightly together. Relax and then do it again. Do this 15-20 repetitions on each buttock.
Hip sway: This is great exercise to do if you are standing for long periods of time, as it alleviates the tautness in your legs and invigorates the circulation within your legs, hips and back. It's a handy back pain treatment as it reduces or even eliminates lower back pain that afflicts some people if they have to stand for long periods of time.
Start from a standing position, let you right knee relax totally, and at the same time pushing your left hip out sideways. Pull the hip back in again, and repeat the same action 15-20 times. Afterwards, allow your left knee to bend and relax, and force your right hip out in the same manner.
Lifting: This exercise needs a bag - a supermarket shopping bag, or anything else that has suitable handles for lifting will do the trick. Place something fairly heavy in the bag - it doesn't really matter what you put in there, but make sure it is at least a couple of kilos (filled plastic bottles are ideal for this, because you know that a liter bottle weighs almost exactly a kilo).
Keeping your arm straight down the side of your body, bend your legs until the bag touches the ground and then straighten your legs and lift the bag. Lift until your legs are once again straight, hold the 'lifted' position for a few seconds, and then return the bag to the floor by bending at the knees once again.
Repeat this exercise 15 times with the bag on one side of your body, and then repeat on the opposite side. By doing it properly, keeping your back straight and bending at your knees - this is a very powerful exercise for strengthening the mid and lower back, glutes and hips, but it will also help to keep your arms and thighs in great shape.
Shrugging: This is a really easy exercise that together with making your lower back strong, it is also a great way of expelling the stress that builds across the back of your shoulders. As an added benefit, this exercise is also great for working your shoulders and arm muscles. You can perform the exercise in pretty much any sitting or standing position.
Doing the exercise is really easy, simply shrug your shoulders as close to your ears as you can, then lift your forearms up to a position where they are parallel to the floor and turn your palms to face outwards. To finish, twist your head to touch your shoulder then hold that final position for a few seconds. Return to the starting position and do the whole thing again, but this time, tilt your head to the opposite side.