Winging of my Scapula

I'm a 22 year old living with this problem.  About 2 years ago I was working for a granite monument making company and a large piece of granite had started falling off a track.  i got underneath it to keep it from falling and it took every ounce of my strength to get it back up.  I did.  But after that i had this naging little pain in my upper back.  I started to see a chiropractor trying to get it to go away.  It never did and only got worse.  After a few months it start to get worse.  It felt as though my shoulder blade was drooping down.  One chiropractor had said that what happened was my rib was popping out and causing the problem.  I went to physical therapy for rib pain and they started with that.  I was in constant pain as i felt my shoulder freezing up from it, losing range of motion.  I had them tell me i had winging of the scapula.  My question is.....What happened?  I have become very depressed and frustrated.  I'm not sure what kind of doctor to seek.  I'm a very active person and this is preventing me to do the things i want to and even simple tasks at work.  Being so young i'm scared i'm doing major damage and affraid of feeling this for the rest of my life.  Any help is greatly appreciated.  Thanks.

[Abhijeet Deshmukh, MD]

Hello.

Sorry to hear about your problem. That was an occupational hazard.

I was wondering if you have had MRI of the back. Since the Chiropractor mentioned a possible rib dislocation or fracture, were there any x-rays or CT scans done?

Winging of scapula is characteristic of weakness of the Serratus Anterior muscle. This muscle runs across the sides of the rib cage and supports the scapula. This muscle can get paralyzed or weakened by dysfunction of the Long Thoracic nerve. This nerve is superficially located ad is vulnerable to injury with trauma or stretching.

Have you seen an orthopedic surgeon?

Regards

[deftonz19]

I have had X-rays of the area and no problem can be seen.  I have learned about the thoracic nerve.  I know where it is located and that a mucle in the neck can actually aggitate it and cause peralysis in the Serratus Anterior muscle.  Recently I have leaned my head back and to the right (toward the affected shoulder) and sqeeze my shoulder back and up into my neck and sqeeze very tightly.  After i do this i feel almost like it is cured.  My shoulder seems to feel it is back in its rightful place.  This almost definetly leads me to believe it is my Long Thoracic nerve.  I will be seeing a pain doctor soon and will bring it up.  I do remember after the injury my neck did start to get very stiff.  Doing what i thought u should do when muscles are stiff, I stretched it out and then soon after everything got worse witht he scapula.  My stiff neck pain was gone, but my scapula was as loose as ever.  What steps do you think i will have to face for recovery?  Do you think I will need surgery?  Thank you for your comments.  You are very helpful and comforting.

[Abhijeet Deshmukh, MD]

Hello.

If the nature of the compression of long thoracic nerve is such that it has a risk of recurrent compression, surgery may be an option. I guess some imaging is still needed to point out the exact problem.

Regards

[Angelwing22]

My heart goes out to you and I know how you feel.  I have had scapular winging for almost a year now.  Having just rested my shoulder from work and exercise, the winging had almost resolved with some residual weakness but good in appearance.  Not sure why, but a couple of days ago, the winging returned and some soreness of my right arm--still not protruding like it was initially. My understanding is that recovery is slow, but the prognosis is good--it just takes a long time, sometimes up to 2 years.  It may be two steps forward, one step back with surgery as a last resort.  We could always pray for eachother--God bless you and keep you!