Severe Neck / Shoulder pain - delayed?

[physiobob]

Hi Tonybob, sounds like a classic referral pattern from the neck area, perhaps around C4 which provide sensation out to the lateral shoulder area. You should not expect this to resolve in a few days and it might take a few weeks of mobilisation to settle things down. No weights on the area in the mean time. The flattening of the lateral deltoid area and asymmetry in the lats may be secondary to what's going on rather than actual muscle damage. A winging issue that is unilateral (on one side) might be some compromise of the long thoracic nerve. See Winged Scapula for more info on that. It is feasible that this is involved in your presentation and your physio can test for that.

It may well be that some of your signs (things we can visualise) may have been present before this issue and you are only noticing them now due to the closer observation. The primary thing would be to centralize your pain back to the neck region and then resolve that. Then you can see what's left and address any training biomechanics and general spinal mobility

It's a free service and people are often very busy so cut them some slack if there is not a response within a day or two. I for one am off skiing today :-)