Loss of strength and numbness in arm coming from shoulder????

[adride]

About 6 months ago I lost all the strength in my left arm, with no specific injury or incident, just happened one day after a heavy gym session. Iv been seeing a physio since then, the initial diagnosis was sublaxations causing the weakness due to an inherent looseness in the joint(always had this but it’s never caused me loss of strength) so I started doing rotator cuff exercise and completely laid of weightlifting, in the process losing a stone of muscle which i now regret being weaker than ever 6 months down the line.

Anyway about 2 months ago i was seing little improvement so under the suspicion that there was nerve damage in the shoulder, I was referred to a shoulder surgeon, before I saw him I actually started doing light weights being really careful about form, and riding my bike again(I’m a mountain bike racer and this injury has ruined me) and this was the best it felt since before the initial weakness so on the mend I though.... So I saw the surgeon who confirmed some nerve damage(forgotten the technical name) and there was wasting around the shoulder. He said it could be caused by anything but was completely unrelated to the sublaxations in the shoulder. from here I've been referred to a neurologist...I’m still waiting for that appointment.

But after I saw the surgeon I've had a few periods of having to lean on my arm/support my weight for long periods of time (won’t go into details here ) at the time I felt a kind of burning pain in the shoulder sort of in the front of the joint but didn’t think much of it...till i woke up and my arm and specifically my hand was partially numb(i say partially because its not like a cant feel anything but its all deadened and feels very strange)...seeming to be the most extreme in my little finger least in my thumb etc. Iv also lost a lot of dexterity and more strength in the arm (writing is hard, so are things like towel drying my hair or squeezing/gripping things, i cant hold onto a 10k weight, and I can barely push together the clip on trouser hangers for example. There’s also been some tingling and strange pains in it. Iv also strength wise gone from about 10push ups with good form (by normal standards bad i know but still amasing concidering how weak it used to be) to 1 if im lucky which is most worse than originally.

I’m just really looking for some sort of help on what this actually is/what its caused by or even what within the shoulder is wrong and if it can be fixed surgically, what i should and shouldn’t be doing for the meantime in the form of exercise and as i was told about 18months recovery initially, which is wholly gutting as I can’t do my sport in this time, does this mean that iv just managed to put myself back 6months of healing? And generaly is there anything I can do to speed this up.

Just any experience or help will be much appreciated, this is so out of control I just feel lost with it and the extent its effecting my life is unbelievable im very sport and fitness orientated and this stops me doing near enough everything.

Thanks
Adam

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[mIrAge]

adride,
It is not uncommon to have cervical radiculopathies without pain. You described loss of strength and altered sensations which are neurological signs. Perhaps consulting a neurosurgeon or having a second opinion with a physiotherapist may be a good idea. Sometimes, the area in which you have altered sensations and the weakened muscle groups can give you clue about where the problem is coming from, spinal or not.

cheers,
M

[adride]

adride,
It is not uncommon to have cervical radiculopathies without pain. You described loss of strength and altered sensations which are neurological signs. Perhaps consulting a neurosurgeon or having a second opinion with a physiotherapist may be a good idea. Sometimes, the area in which you have altered sensations and the weakened muscle groups can give you clue about where the problem is coming from, spinal or not.

cheers,
M

forgive my ignorance but 'cervical radiculopathies'???

Since I posted that earlier I have got myslelf an appointment with a neurologist. but its not for well over a week so any help is still needed, anything that I can or shouldnt do to help the sensation come back and a bit of strength.

well wasting occured in the mid deltoid aswell as just above my shoulder blade, i think there is other wasting but this is the most obvious and the main ones that were pointed out to me.

In terms of what muscles are weak basically if i held a dumbell currently everything in that arm seems to be equaly weak, and for the first time recently iv had grip problems aswell which I have never had from this 'condition'. Altered sensation seems to run down from my little finger to about half way down my forearm, this was the first part that went numb also followed by what seemed to be a gradual creeping across my hand of the numbness but the rest of the arm feels almost normal.

[adride]

Ok recently after alot of awkward one armed manual labour one day (using good arm) i noticed weakness in the right arm (similar stability issues and small amounts of numbness in the tip of the thumb but alot better strength and dexterity wise than the left), saw the neurologist after that where he decided to test for kennedy syndrome, but from what I can see the symptoms are all wrong. That night I slept awkwardly and woke up with a burning pain in the trap and shoulder. In the morning I couldnt even lift my arm above my chest/hold it out straight infront of me, and the numbness moved up my thumb and into the top edge of my forearm. so....anyone have any better suggestions? its sounding more like a trapped nerve in my neck now as i do feel verry achey around my neck, the neurologist was convinced its some kind of condition though rather than a physical cause, i do think it might be worth pushing on with scans and conduction tests while im waiting the 3 weeks for the results of the blood test though.

[mIrAge]

Oops, my bad. Cervical spine radiculopathy is generally described as a trapped nerve in your neck. There is not a lot you can do about the neurological signs and symptoms at this point in time as they generally spontaneiously resolve within 3 months or sometimes more. There are many causes of radiculopathy but a common source is disc injury. Given the description you had given about the onset of your problem i.e. after heavy gym session and the type of lifestyle you are leading i.e. very active, I would probably push for a MRI scan to include/exclude the possibility of a cervical disc injury.

However, please note that the diagnosis here is an orthopedic one. There are still possibilities that your problem could be a medical condition. I guess we would have to wait and see to your neurologist's final opinion.

[nss21heath]

Hey sorry to bring this back from the dead. But what was the conclusion about the weakness?
I am a musician and have been having numbness for 2 years and weakness for a year. I finally gave in to the neurologist who is also a musician and decided to have surgery. It's been 4.5 months and still having symptoms. I've realized the thing that helps best is exercising (jogging) every other day. It gets rid of the symptoms at least for those 2 days. Could this mean I have some shoulder issue as well? I also have a looser shoulder on that side (my left).
Thanks!

[keephurting]

Hi , I have these same symptoms and have been diagnosed with Thoracic outlet syndrome. Could be worth looking into.