so i think the reason i really cant strengthen is bc this area is chronically inflamed somewhere. not the front so much but all around the shoulders. however if i use those godawful arm machines any real strengthening it spreads to my entire ribcage.

has anyone with shoulder probs experienced this? should i just ask for a cortisone shot, then strengthen until shot wears off and hope its not still there?

i have no muscle in my back. grr.

or another name for this is snapping scapula syndrome? either way im scared to move my shoulders. theyre very noisy

im wondering if thisll show up in an mri, probably not

Have you have a MRI yet to check for any other causes or problems with the C & T spine?

I think that might help if anything suspicious shows up.
You have multiple conditions happening it sounds like, and that complicates the whole scenario, I think it all needs to be checked out before cortisone or heavy strengthening.

yeah im nowhere near real strengthening

all im doing now is squeezing my lower trapezius while sitting still. but when i do it, i hear my ribs make a little thud noise sometimes it grosses me out.

im wondering if theres a bursa or something along my thoracic wall that is inflamed chronically. or the actual ribs. i am getting an mri in june but according to mayn people nothing is even going to show up especially having eds, i am preparing myself.

oh and my neck mri was completely normal, phew! i havent had t mri.

Mspenny,

Until I was diagnosed with TOS I long thought I had a shoulder problem. I had this burning scapular pain so figured the shoulder caused it.

You mention rib pain...is it burning/tingling? When I really irritated my situation my burning scapular pain would "spread" down my upper arm and all the way down my ribcage. (Eventually this "spread" down my arm and to my last two digits once my ulnar nerve got kinked).

Anyways, little did I know that it was the compression of my subclavian artery in my neck causing the issue. I only found this by getting an MRA -- both with my arms above my head and down at the side. The one with my arms above my head showed the compression, the other didn't.

KY

it burns ALL THE time under my armpit/scap its a light burn.

i have had it spread down to my arm from my neck. that's more of a deep deep deep itchy burn

then rarely i get light itching all over my shoulderblades without bunch of a burn at all. im a mess

my pt is treating me for a whiplash injury basically so its totally possible something is comrpessed. i am wearing a neck brace a lot now. however i believe i gave myself whiplash after the first (shoulder) injury..its a longgg story.

MsPenny:

I wrote you a long post but I wasn't logged on, so I lost it all. Until I get a shot at it again, the burning is a neurological response, not a compression of a vein or artery IMO.

Compression with arms hyper-abducted frankly means nothing to me. A large portion of the non-symptomatic population all experience compression with their arms in this position.

Anne

* losing posts due to automatic timed log out *
we've found that checking the 'Remember me' box at log on will usually help keep that from happening.
I also set my browser to keep/allow the cookies for NT.


*If you use a shared computer be sure to clear cookies at log off*

darn it. id like to hear more.

i definitely had a few episodes of stinger/burner type shoulder injuries. so maybe it's the remnants of those. i have 5 billion trigger points sticky areas on my back which im sure doesnt help anything move properly either.

when i do isometric strengthening it burns but its contained so i dont mind it. its when it spreads to my tos area that i freak out.

also i know the soft tissues around my tos area are inflamed/irritated and perhaps that can press on nerves. my collarbone used to stick way otu and now it doesnt anymore. nothing sits like it used to or moves properly.

Jo Mar: Thank you for the advice.

MsPenny: Through my marathon journey of Doctors, my burning started on my left anterior chest wall, progressed to the top of my thoracic, down between the shoulder blades, wrapped around the front of my chest and sides of ribs. I had costochondritis in the usual place where it typically presents, left anterior, above the heart area and both sides of ribs. No arm involvement.

No one had a clue what was wrong with me. Give me pills and send me on my way. I knew there was a neurological component mixed with muscle dysfunction. Doctors never looked at my muscles or considered them. My collarbones were askew, yet it didn't seem to faze them. "We all aren't symetrical." I was sent to PT where they had me do movements much like you are describing and I got worse. I ultimately dx myself and found providers who specialized in the mystery of tos.

Today, 99% of the burning it out of my anterior chest and the sides of my ribs have no pain. Costochondritis or inflammation is gone. I removed this pain by diaphragmatic breathing only and gentle spinal mobility, but the rest of me was still a mess. About a year ago, I found an exceptional manual therapist. It has taken me one year to be able to finally isolate movements of my shoulder blades. Prior, I moved as a brick with no mobility and no individual articulation. My collarbones visually look better, but there is much work to do. I believe years, but for me, it's a better option than surgery.

My moral of the long story is to slow down. We all want to be better by tomorrow and that will not happen. I'm guilty of trying to speed up time and then I get in trouble. Find an exceptional manual therapist who can analyze your body, not a traditional move them in, move them out PT kind of place. Learn to deep breath and use your breathe to move your ribs. I've tried different types of breathing, but I prefer the Feldenkrais method of using your entire lungs.

You will get better.
Anne

Yes, that "slow down" part is really true.

for the most part we didn't get messed up all of a sudden, it probably took many years, I know for me it did.
And we can't "fix" our problems overnight, took me about 2.5 yrs and I still need to keep up with self care or I slip backwards.