Superior Migration of Humeral Head

[John Lowe]

Hey John,

Sorry you are having a crap time. I am a physio in the States but am actually a Kiwi. Honestly MRI's xrays etc are pretty much useless in most cases. in fact I almost never look at them at all. There is so much research out there showing that if they show anything most times it has no relevance. Meaning the same "abnormalities" appear in a person who does not have pain. If you take 100 fellas over 40 WITHOUT any pain, 50% of them will have a rotator cuff tear. I have had people diagnosed with full tears walk out the same day with almost full pain free range and no strength loss.

OK I just re read your post. very high probability it is your neck. Do you have neck or upper trap pain, neck sitffness, shoulder blade pain? It is an easy fix. There are a couple of other things that cause numbness and tingling, but they are not very common.

Thanks for the reply, KiwiPike!

That makes sense about the MRI's then, no point having one if it wouldn't be of use.

The physio did say I have a stiff neck but then never mentioned it again or treated that area, and it does feel stiff on the right side where the shoulder pain is, with a very slight 'crick' in it too, but I wouldn't say it was painful, most of the pain is in the front of the shoulder, with some elbow and wrist pain too, I was getting numbness and tingling in my hand early on but that has improved a lot. Looking at a picture on google of the neck I would say the 'crick' is around the C4 or C5 area if that helps.

I have no upper trap pain, but again the physio has said the upper trap is tight and hypertrophied (as is the chest), I have been doing chest stretches but I wasn't given any sort of stretch for the upper trap, apart from just being told to try and relax it if possible.

No shoulder blade pain either, but it does feel very tight along the medial border near the bottom of the scapula, with some pain there when I try to stretch it.

What would the 'easy fix' be? I'm very grateful for your reply and willing to try pretty much anything at this point haha