Severe Neck / Shoulder pain - delayed?

[Tonybob]

Hi Guys, for anyone interested, I still have this issue! It's been around 10 months now and I have very little strength in my arm when lifting / pushing vertically. I've not done any weightlifting exercises since this occurred. My neck is still easy to crack via twisting in any direction too. There is no pain and I've seen another physio who tried manipulating all the serratus area as well as my pec too, with nothing helping. The winging is still there but according to him, it's hardly winging in a drastic capacity. The one thing that has become more noticable is that behind my clavical, what feels like the trapezius on the left (problem side), is what appears to be a lump / mound - max 1 inch ish, just feels like muscle but it doesn't appear to be apparent on the other side. I believe this could well be the issue which is or has damage the nerve point on that side. It's not painful or tender, jsut feels like extra muscle in all aspects, but permanently tensed yet it doesn't seem to fatigue.

Any further opinions or expertise welcome! I've not seen a doc as I was waiting for it to 'get better on its own' as I had already written it off as something that would fix itself. Think I'll be going to the docs soon enough though, this has been far too long and I'll have to call in my private medical insurance as no doubt serious investigation will need to occur..

Thanks in advance for any support!

[thetung]

Hi there,

I think it may be time to go and see the doc as physio doesn't seem to be having much effect. I would advise that you mention to him the fact that you have pain that wakes you up at night, and also the lump that you described behind the clavicle on the affected side should be looked at. There is a medical condition called a Pancoast tumor which can give a pancoast syndrome. it is commonly misdiagnosed as a musculoskeletal problem when in fact it is a lesion that starts growing on the top part of the lungs and can end up spreading to the nearby nerves of the brachial plexus causing weakness, atrophy (muscle loss) & pain. It would be a good idea to research this yourself and see if you think the symptoms fit and if so push it with your doctor. We are in the age of information so don't worry about coming across as self diagnosing if it makes sense.

all the best

[Tonybob]

Thanks for the input, but after reading up on that, I doubt it is that. The pain doesn't exist any more, it was only a few days worth initially, now it's just the loss of strength - whatever happened seems to have impinged on a nerve more than anything and thereby affecting the serratus anterior. I don't appear to have lost any strength in the fact I can still comfortably do chin ups, but the complete opposite movement I simply raise my arm up and hold it overhead without the trapezius appearing to do all the work, and then I'm leaning to one side to keep it there. It's literally that type of movement that I can't do, anything else seems fine. I still swim although it too a few weeks to even attempt trying front crawl. Now I can swim ok but can feel some fatigue in the shoulder - I'm also beginning t think that swimming with a damaged shoulder may have compounded the issue and the lump I can feel could well be built up muscle at the anterior of the trapezius but directly behind the clavicle, it seems to far up for it to be anything connected with the pancoast syndrome. I think I've somehow caused trauma to the nerve area and in it's natural healing process, formed a protective area that has now not rectified itself. Doc's is the only choice now and unless they specialise in this it's going to have to be a scan / x-ray.