Help :( trapezius muscle imbalances

Hello folks,

I'm a 22 year old male who is suffering from trapezius muscle imbalance and can't seem to correct it. Just thought I'd tell you a little about my background before my current problem.

i played rugby at a high level from 15 which is when I had my first dislocation. 3/4 dislocations later I had my rotary cuff repaired. Another 3/4 further dislocations I've had pins put in excetera.

My problem now is my left scapula is winging and my upper trapezius is constantly stiff and I can't seem to perform the exercises designed to fire my lower trapezius without firing my upper trapezius and I'm making no progress. Im on my 3rd nhs physiotherapist and I've also paid for two different private ones in the last two years and can't seem to get past it.

Further to to this my right scapula which I've had no previous issues with has started to loose control and create a similar stiffness in my right upper trapezius as in my left.

its got to the point now where it's really getting me down I've lost so much weight and at 22 I just want to be able to go the gym and train which I cannot do .

any help would be much appreciated or any physios who specialise in this or anything along those lines.

thanks for taking time to read this and I apologise for any incorrect spelling or grammar, writing is my strong point.

thanks , Gary

Hi Gary - This sounds a bit fuzzy so let me see if I understand correctly. Beginning at age 15 you had your first left shoulder dislocation. After 3-4 further dislocations you had rotator cuff repair for what I assume was a torn tendon. Further 3-4 dislocations and then you had another surgery involving pins (i'm going to make a large assumption that this was a surgery that moved an end of one muscle to block the shoulder from dislocating?). Since then you cannot exercise as you would like due to (assumption) weakness verses pain? The winging of the left scap and tightness L>R upper traps is constant for the most part but worse in the morning after sleeping with head tilted to the left?
If i'm even a little close I think I can still give you some things to think about. Winging is likely from muscle weakness but having done a ton of exercises without any change then we might be looking at a nerve problem to that muscle. Left cervical nerve irritation might explain the winging (compromised long thoracic nerve coming from the neck and going to the serratus anterior muscle that helps hold your scap to your ribs) and also the upper trap tightness due to general multilevel nerve irritation made worse by tilting your head to the left (closes down the space where the nerves exit your spine and go down your arm). You may have had cervical traction treatment where the PT pulls upward on your head to help relieve the nerve compression. If you did and nothing changed then that doesn't mean the nerves are not involved. You may have pulled the whole nerve bundle during one of your dislocation episodes.
In order to help you more I'll need to know what specifically stops you from exercising (pain/weakness/tightness). Do you get any tingling or electric shocks in the arms or hands? What exercises feel most weak? Have you tried a soft neck brace while you sleep to keep your head from tilting left? Might be worth experimenting to see if it helps your symptoms. Let us know how you're doing. Thx