Pain in scapula caused by damage to lower trapezius

I have had the symptoms for about 5 or 6 years now and it's only recently been confirmed exactly the problem.


I have some chronic nerve damage in the lower trapezius on the left side. This causes pain in my scapula as it's not properly supported. All the other muscles in the area have to over compensate for this weakness which causes a lot of pain.


In order to deal with it I do exercises daily which support the scapula. They certainly help. Kinesiology tape is also quite helpful and I also take Diclofenac to keep it at bay.


The shoulder specialist mentioned perhaps I can have a muscle transfer to provide support to the medial border of the scapula but he also says it could make it even worse quoting that my problem is perhaps not bad enough to warrant treatment that drastic.


But I feel I've been fighting this for so long and Im just fed up with it. Does anyone have an opinion on this muscle transfer idea. What are the risks? Any other advice anyone has. Today I read about Prolotherapy. Perhaps that might help ?


Many thanks in advance.

Muscle transfer: definitely not worth it. The procedure itself can introduce new problems. Risk is higher than benefit.


I am not aware of any good clinical evidence to support prolotherapy. It doesn't sound like the kind of thing that would help your condition.

I would suggest regular heat and massage to minimise the effect of compensatory effort.
When your muscles are already overloading, strengthening it is probably not the best idea, because it puts even more stress onto it. I usually go the other way, reduce loading, modify how you use your arms a little, and maybe avoid certain activity that you find most aggravate your problem. When you feel the overall condition is under control, only then try to strengthen it, but the emphasis should be on the balance of force rather than pure strength. You need to pay a lot of attention on how you use your arms to work that out.

I agree with Kcho, muscle transfer has more of risks than benefits.

Hello, I know my reply is a few years late but if you are still experiencing issues I thought this may help.

You are describing very similar pain to what I had before I discovered that I had scapular muscle detachment. I had surgery in January. If you want more info there is a facebook group: search scapular reattachment support group, it wont let me post the link.

it is relatively rare but it also may be under diagnosed. If you scroll to the bottom of the facebook page you should be able to see a lot of people's stories. Feel free to join/post in the group. I hope this helps.

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Originally Posted by saintben1234

I have had the symptoms for about 5 or 6 years now and it's only recently been confirmed exactly the problem.

I have some chronic nerve damage in the lower trapezius on the left side. This causes pain in my scapula as it's not properly supported. All the other muscles in the area have to over compensate for this weakness which causes a lot of pain.

In order to deal with it I do exercises daily which support the scapula. They certainly help. Kinesiology tape is also quite helpful and I also take Diclofenac to keep it at bay.

The shoulder specialist mentioned perhaps I can have a muscle transfer to provide support to the medial border of the scapula but he also says it could make it even worse quoting that my problem is perhaps not bad enough to warrant treatment that drastic.

But I feel I've been fighting this for so long and Im just fed up with it. Does anyone have an opinion on this muscle transfer idea. What are the risks? Any other advice anyone has. Today I read about Prolotherapy. Perhaps that might help ?

Many thanks in advance.

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