I have been suffering from chronic muscle spasms in the levator scap while I have been trying to rehabilitate a shoulder injury. About three years ago I tore the biceps tendon and prior to that I tore one of the Wikipedia reference-linkrotator cuff muscles (I suspect it is infrasprinatus). When I had it diagnosed by a sports doctor, he noted that it had G-H instability, some mild shoulder dumping, and tightness in the thoracic region. About a year ago I had a cortisone injection into the long head of the biceps sheath and with rest and avoiding salsa dancing, I managed to keep it under control. My rehabilitation program at that time was very basic and involved using extremely light weights (1kg).

Over the last 12 months I have been working with a personal trainer and we hae managed to get my shoulder strength back and gained some of the shoulder stability I had lost after the injury. The dumping has lessened and the stability in the GH has improved. Scap retraction is much better too. But during this time, I have muscles spasms in the levator scap every 6-8 weeks. Dry needling has been helpful to treat the acute injury and I am working with my physio to take more of a prevention rather than treatment focus where he dry needles the levator scap, along with releasing the thoracic region. It seemed to be working well and I managed to avoid having a muscle spasm for about 2 and a half months.

Unfortunately, I had another muscle spasm today and I am really on my last threads. I've currently got it taped so that my shoulder sits in it's more natural position (my shoulders tend to role forward) and this seems to have helped along with NSAIDS and analgesics. It's been far too long since my original injury and I'm kind of fed up with this whole injury. I suspect the reason why I have experience recurring muscle spasms is part due to the intense nature of my rehab program and it seems that if I do too much work which elevates the scap, the muscle will normally spasms and the whole cycle begins again. So I'm wondering if any of the physio's can provide some advice on what options I could try and has anyone tried using kinetic chain rehabilitation on shoulder injuries? I've found a few articles and it seems like a possible option because the traditional rehabilitation methods seemed to have failed me.

Thoughts, options and any advice you can suggest is greatly appreciated.

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