I've been through a battery of test, and asked questions in other forums. No one has been able to shed some light on my problems. I'm a 31y/o male who is in very good physical condition. I work out 5 times a week, eat well, and all of my physicals are good.
First - the injury: I believe I have some sort of repetitve strain type of injury. Prior to my problems I was regulary lifting wieghts, playing double bass (stand-up bass), and performing remodeling work on my home.
Symptoms started in December and include: extreme tightness in back (from upper down to rib area), muscle twitching, pinching feeling in shoulder, numbness in hand/forearm, shooting pain in bicep, shoulder stiffness and popping, various aches in pains up and down the whole arm, back spasms. To sum it up, every joint/muscle above my waste on the left side has some sort of pain, stiffness, or spasm.
I was referred to a nuerologist who has run lots of tests. MRI's, EMG/NCV, and blood work to rule out inflammitory disease have all come back clean. He has stated that he believes that it is all soft tissue damage. My family doctor said the same thing.
They have told me to rest, and take motrin all day. Also put my on muscle relaxers for my back a couple of days ago. This has been going on for months now, and I feel like I'm not healing.
No one seems to be able to say anything other than rest and take drugs. I can't get a time frame on healing out of anyone. This is very debilitating.
Is soft tissue just a diagnosis used when doctors really don't know what the problem is? Four months ago I was as active as can be. The more I rest, the worse I feel.