back and shoulder problem, need help please!!

[nfld170]

hi, i am 30yrs old and in pretty good shape. For the last year i have been having shoulder pain(left). After about 6 months the pain went to my shoulder blade, it feels sore and tender to touch it also feels like there are knots under the shoulder blade that i cant seem to reach to massage out.Now the pain is going into my neck and the left side of my back is super tight and often burns when i stand in 1 spot for a prolonged period of time. I have been doin PT for about 10 months now, it helps but i cant seem to completly heal. The doc sent me to an ortho which is sending me for an mri, he thinks i may have a partial labral tear. The PT thinks my baack may be caused by a RSI and overcompensating for my shoulder injury. To make a long story short i think there may be more to my back issue then they think. It seems like no1 really wants to look into it because they are linking everythink to my original shoulder. I noticed that my lat on my left side is a lot less developed then the right and the lat stops right where the burning is and on the right side the lat form a v shape like it is suposed to. I added this pic so you can see wt i am talking about. I would like to hear if any1 on here is suffering from a similar thing and get some opinions.I have posted on here a few times b4 but havent really gotten many replies.

[nfld170]

Thank you for taking the time to read my post. I failed to mention that i recently went to a chiropractor who did take xrays of my t spine and said everything loooked good but i had limited movement on one side when reaching down to the side(not sure if it was left or right). He said it was probably an old injury or something. He done several minipulations. I had some relief of my muscle tightness but never ever lasted long. Whe i went to my doc about it, who i might add is very anti chiro, he said i should have never let him manipulate my back because there was nothing wrong with it but yet it looks the way it do??????.Since ive seen the chiro ive noticed my upper back is sore a lot ant at times it feels like my spine or the muscles attached to it are on fire, it also feels like it needs to crack all the time. I recently went back to my doc about this who pretty much dismissed it as all being caused by my previous injury(shoulder), io talked him into xrays to rule out the possibility of the chiro messing up something in my back. I am still waiting on the xray report.I want to see a new doc but unfortunatly i live in a really small town and good doctors are few and far between and the waiting lists to see them are crazy long.I just get the feeling my doc is not looking into this like he should mainly because of my shoulder injury. Anyway, sorry to rant but i feel so desperate and backed into a corner, ive tried everything i can think of with no luck at all. I am afraid that there may be something serious wrong and it is just being ignored for stupid reasons. Well thanks again for your time and advise. If this info gives you anymore insight on my problem please let me know wt you have to say, thank you
                                                                                                        Mark

[S. Kaul, MD]

Hi there!

Yes, there does appear to be a difference between the two sides. Usually less used muscles would tend to be smaller and weaker than more used muscles. Important possibilities that may need to be ruled out in such a situation would be neuromuscular issues causing atrophy of the muscles, skeletal structural abnormalities, injuries/ trauma, inflammations, degenerations, myopathies, neuropathies, micronutrient deficiencies etc. A complete physical examination along with imaging studies such as the MRI may provide a useful input in coming to a diagnosis. In addition other causes as mentioned above would need to be ruled out as well. I would suggest discussing these in detail with your orthopedician.
Hope this is helpful.

Take care!