What Dreams About the Back Mean

The back is one of the most commonly dreamed about parts of the body, and depending on its context within the dream the back can hold a great significance.

Backs can be symbols for many things, including your strengths, burdens, attitude and standing in the world.  Dreaming of a back that hurts, or a back that feels as though it is breaking, can mean the dreamer feels overwhelmed or overburdened by the events in his or her life.  Thus the dream is a manifestation of feelings of being asked to do too much with too little support.

Dreaming about a back can also indicate that the dreamer is feeling undue stress or pressure, especially from an outside source.  Those who are feeling overworked or pushed to hard on their jobs often dream that their back is hurting.  Stress is real life can cause back problems, and psychological stress can often manifest in dreams of an aching back.

If someone in your dream world turns their back on you, it can indicate that you harbor feelings of hurt, envy or jealousy toward that person.  The identify of the person who turns their back to you can be quite significant and it should be heeded.  Repressed feelings of anger or resentment often manifest themselves in dreams, and the turning of a dream character's back toward you is one of the clearest manifestations of repressed feelings of this nature.

Seeing a back in your dream, or being afraid to turn your back on a person in your dream, may also indicate that you fear a betrayal, either of a personal or professional nature.  Dreaming about being afraid to turn your back to a coworker may indicate that you feel someone at work (not necessarily the person in the dream) is plotting against you.  If the character you refuse to turn your back on is a friend, you may feel the betrayal of a friend.  Again, the friend you fear will betray you may not be the one who appeared in the dream.  Dreams are symbolic, and one friend can be a dream stand-in for another, especially if you do not want to face up to the possibility of their betraying you.

If you dream about a naked back, it can mean that you are keeping secrets from those in your life, and that you fear that those secrets could be revealed and you could be exposed.  Dreams of any sort of nakedness, including an exposed back, are often manifestations of this type of fear.  If you have been keeping secrets, dreaming of a naked back may mean your subconscious is telling you to come clean.