Doctor diagnosed me with severe left scapula dysfunction today. Right scapula is fine. The issue is that the muscles are way to short around the left scapula, disrupting my thoracic (sp?) stability and lots of shoulder / neck issues. I will be starting PT on Monday for at least 6 weeks. It was caused by computer work for most of my adult career. Sitting too much and not paying attention to good ergonomics until the daily pain just had to stop a few months ago. It is good to know why my overhead lifting I do is so weak and lacks power. No real growth in strength in the overhead lifts in many months despite awesome nutrition, consistent lifting and good sleep. Lots of lifting through the pain in last 8 months as I thought it would go away. I am going to do PT at least 2x a week, but will continue to do my 4-5 cross fit sessions. Love them too much. I am going to start using rock tape more often over scapula region because it really seems to help a lot when I used it today when doing a lot of s n a t c h e s and shoulder to bar pull-ups. Actually felt good instead of usual upper back issues of achiness. I also got a new prescription from doc for inflammation, as needed, as current ibu 800 mg was not really doing much for me. Any other suggestions you have?

What anti-inflammatory are you using? Ibuprofen isn't working for me. I have a script for Torodol. It works so well, but I'm a little bit afraid of it.

After they took away my PCA of Morphine this is what they gave me. It was good stuff! I would be a little nervous at home too!

I had a very nice breakthrough yesterday. An "aha" moment if you will. It may seem small to the average person, but huge for me.

I was out shopping with my wife, lamenting internally and a little externally (as my wife can attest to) about my sore neck, shoulders and upper back. Basically, the whole thoracic region. And I thought to myself why am I so different from everyone else on this? Why does my wife not have this problem with pain in the thoracic spinal region when turning her neck sideways? So after asking myself a million questions, I started to really internalize why the muscles are so tight from the lats, through the delts and down the muscles surrounding the scapula. It occurred to me that my shoulders *can* rotate backwards to relieve the tension on all the muscles. I visualized the physical mechanics of it. I heard this a million times from my cross fit coaches and from my family. But it was never working because instead of rotation, I was applying a lateral backwards shift which created more sheer force and torque (think what happens when you apply a sheer force to a tight rubber band) . So I slowly rotated the ball of the shoulder backwards and my left scapula moved down significantly. All my muscles and tendons relaxed.

And the years of pain throughout the thoracic region vanished.

I did a little jig right there. Happy days!!

I had my wife feel the muscles throughout the region and they were no longer tight like a piano string. Also, I could "feel" the small remaining presence of tension shift down to below the scapula, mid back. Only a small amount. I am over-thrilled that my body " gets it" and I now have a strategy that works to fix my back if I sense it is tight. I have been fighting this back, shoulder, neck pain for over a decade and it worsened a bit after losing 180 lbs.

The forward rotation of the shoulders occurred both from the excess weight in front and from bad sitting posture at the computer. The excess weight certainly compounded the forward pull caused by sitting incorrectly to the nth degree. So much so that my neutral posture was very uncomfortable.

Now I just need to make this new neutral standing posture automatic so I do not need to think about it when sitting at a computer or when lifting weight in the gym. I found my usual tunnel of pain return after sitting at my work desk last night. So I think I mentally understand correct standing neutral posture now, but need to work on internalizing correct sitting nuetral posture at the office desk. This is what kills me.

One "side effect" is my stomach now pushes out a little more. I need to keep it pulled in when holding good posture while standing.

I cannot believe that this change in physical rotation around the rotator cuff did not occur to me before. I had been trying to apply sheer forces to push my shoulders back in the past, which did not work.

Everyone probably does not realize that there are significant postures that must be relearned after losing a significant amount of weight. Now that the excess weight is gone, there is no need for the upper body to overcompensate in seeking positional balance.

Maybe I do not need Physical therapy after all?

Thoughts?

I'm spatially challenged so I couldn't follow everything you said but I did follow the part about "do I need to go to PT?" And the answer to that is YES. Perhaps this thing you discovered by accident, they could have taught you a long time ago.

Last time I had to go to PT, the therapist was my son's age, tiny, and I was skeptical. I was re-learning how to walk, how to sit on the floor and get up, etc. I thought that stuff was too easy to need help for. After weeks of struggling, she had me doing it in 3 days.

My son fought it for weeks. Therapy has been hugely helpful for him too. So go to it and stop being a man thinking you don't need help!

Hi Fiddle,

If I had full range and no pain, then I would skip PT. Anything less, then it might help get to 100%.

I had to relearn how to stand, walk, and hold my arms after losing weight. After years of learning postures and stances that accommodate 100+ extra lbs it took conscious effort to change them. Also took awhile to learn where I could fit, that it's now easy to bend over, and that I can tuck in my shirt and wear a belt if my outfit looks better that way.

Lynda

Thanks both! Your perspectives are both very helpful.