Chest Wall & Shoulder & Neck Pain

[Lyn__0__0]

  In 1996 I had double by-pass surgery & my rib-cage buckled from the stress
  of the "bar" (I don't know the medical term of the instrument used) used to
  hold open the rib cage.  Along with the usual to be expected chest wall pain
  following by-pass surgery I had chronic shoulder & neck pain. It's now been
  2 yrs. since the by-pass & I still have chronic shoulder, neck & chest wall
  pain.  I've had multiple nerve blocks ... the 2nd block was somewhat successful for a
  few months. The chronic pain returned & more nerve blocks to no avail. Is this something
  I'm going to have to "learn to live with" (mega-ouch)?  The shoulder pain is much
  worse than the rib cage & neck.  
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Dear Lynn:
Stretch injuries to nerves in the neck and shoulder can occur with chest wall retraction for sternotomy for CABG. A neuromuscular specialist could likely figure this out, clinically and with the help of a properly designed EMG test (shocks and needles, a little painful, but usually tolerable). This is important because ever so often one sees a case where  the correct diagnosis dramatically alters treatment and also prognosis.
Pain, whether from nerve injury or from direct musculskeletal stretch, has been much easier to control these days, with the advent of new and safer medicines, better drug delivery systems, and other newer pain control techniques. You need not lose hope.