scapular winging and numbness - is recovery possible?

[osc]

hi, 

 

let me introduce myself:

 

I'm 22 years old and I've been struggling with my right shoulder for the past 3~4 years (was lifting weights at a gym when it started/developed, no "instant" injury as far as I can tell, i think it could be related to poor posture when sitting in front of a computer for hours) 

 

 

over the years i had 2 mri's (no diagnosis) showed my shoulder a surgeon (no surgery done, only asked for what he thought of it), and visited 2 pt's. 

 

I also told them about a slightly numb feel at the back ( I think it could be right at the infraspinatus) however no one made a big deal of it so i thought it would be a common thing (i can only notice it if i scratch that area or do something similiar, just sitting here typing this down i notice nothing) 

 

overhead pressing doesn't give me much trouble, like if I'd pick up the 15kg dumbbell next to me and do 15-20 reps i'd feel a very slight irritation if anything.

 

 

however throwing a ball or sitting in a slouched position causes more pain, got really tight neck especially at the right side too. (I'm working on my posture in general, I think I got the upper cross syndrome)

 

 

another problem is, if I'm sitting there for hours writing something down with a pen my back tightens up and if I stick my head out in front of me I get pain starting from my neck running down between the thoratic spine and my right scapular.

 

 

sorry for the confusing post thus far, but my main concern is what i discovered today:

 

I stood in front of a wall and let myself fall into it, catching my body with one hand. no problem for my left side, however my right shoulder started to hurt after 2 or 3 times. I asked a friend to check if he could see any difference from behind and he told me that my right scapular sticks out when pushing against the wall, and also a tiny bit when I'm just standing there. 

Combined with the numb spot i mentioned earlier I'm very afraid that I'll never be able to recover from this due to permanent nerve damage, however i never experienced any numbness in my arm/hand/fingers.

 

do you think it could be possible to get these muscles working properly? with gymnastics i discovered something that could develop into a new passion and now I'm really becoming desperate.

 

 

 

any thoughts on this subject would be greatly appreciated 

 

 

edit: just a quick edit because my 2nd post isn't approved yet:

 

i lacrosse-balled a bit on  trigger points across my right upper back and it really changed something. the constant clicking in my shoulder stopped for about 1 hour and the numb area revealed a quite sensitive layer of muscle tissue (at least thats what i think...) under the still slightly numb skin. 

I also had much better control during the facepulls I did after the massage. ofc I'm not fixed but I think it's a pretty important puzzle piece to do on a daily basis for my rehab. further input is stil very welcome

[Tobias Sundelin]

I have no idea what it could be (maybe scapular winging?) or how to treat it, I just want to say that I have had problems with my right shoulder 1-2 year, probably because i began with ring-training without the proper foundation, I had problems throwing, and in different situations, not very specific, I visited different rehab-specialist, didnt do anyting. The only cure I found was foundation one, two and handstand, now I practicaly dont feel anyting anytime. But, as I said, your problem can be something enirely different. 

[Connor Davies]

This isn't specific to your problem and I'm not a medical professional, but H1 has some excellent shoulder mobility drills in it.  I know it's helped a lot of other people with their postural problems or shoulder pain.  I see no reason why it wouldn't work for you.  I'd recommend getting it and working your way through all of the iM's, even if you don't decide to work on developing a handstand.

 

Do you still have full ROM and active control of your scapula?

[osc]

Thanks for your replies, Shaolintobbe and Bipocni. 

 

 

yes, my shoulder got full ROM, don't know about measuring scapula ROM, so i can't really comment on that. 

 

regarding the active control, well, when watching my back (with a second mirror in hand) in a mirror, i am able to give it the same positioning as my left one, like when the right side tries to flare away i can put it back in, if that makes sense. however i am not sure if other muscles like the lats or traps or something could be substituting the movements.

 

when comparing both sides the left feels tight (in a positive way) and packed, while the right is kinda loose or worn out

[Richard Hamilton]

Hey there, sorry to hear about your shoulder issues, mine are problematic as well and I can identify with some of the symptoms you mention. I've also seen pt's/chiros about this and it used to feel a bit desperate but you probably need to take a long term view on sorting out muscular imbalances and faulty recruitment patterns yourself. The Foundation & Handstand courses will likely go a long way to rectifying these problems.

 

I'm starting to make progress with this stuff now and like Bipocni said, there's some excellent mobility work in the F & H courses which is what you need to focus on. If you take your time and have a mindful approach to this stuff you can make a lot of change, just don't go chasing after all the cool moves right away. Yes, you can supplement them with additional rehab work if you need it but there's a good chance you won't need to, they cover all bases if you feel GST is the way you want to go. If you're struggling with anything then there are course forums where we can look at what you're doing and give you a form check.

 

Hope you get it sorted fella