Very bad pain in rhomboid

Hi, Last year I went swimming and I brought my arm to high up and felt this sharp electrical ripping feeling in my right rhomboid. I took 2 weeks off weights and was fine. Every once in a while if I make the wrong movement like lower back extensions I will feel a tiny electrical pain. Sometimes randonly I also feel tingling in that area. The other day I was doing side lateral raises on the cable machine when I felt that pain again. Only I was stupid and pushed through it. I thought it would just go away the next day like it always does, but now its not. I got a message therapist to work on it. It didnt work, Im still in pain. I have been modifying my workouts to put as little stress on my back. I really need your help figuring this out! I cant do any back workouts! I just feel alot of tightness in that area, and have been icing, stretching and taking supplements. Cant go to a doctor till the 26th, but they never help me anyways. Just thought you guys might know. Please help :(

this is where it hurt

Bump!

First of whilst it may be the rhomboid that is hurting it seems more likely that it is the trapezius muscle. Could be a number of things and there is no way we can know for sure

1-a strained muscle
2-a cramping muscle
3-a trapped nerve

for a strained or cramping muscle try and keep it mobile, moving it in the painfree motion. Let it rest well before working it out again and get some massages on the area if need be - you said it didn't work but you only did 1 session. If it has not cleared up go and get it checked out, if it is a trapped nerve physiotherapy might help.

Hey Holly,
for Rhomboids you can lie on your stomach on a high bench(or table, desk, counter top, etc). Let your arm hang down then do a rowing like movement, but keeping your arm straight. Its really a shoulder movement. This will help strengthen your rhomboids. Of coures you want to wait until the pain goes down first.

Ok, so it could be the trap? What about using a tennis ball as a message tool. Im a little strapped for cash and cant afford messages. I could just lay on a tennis ball? Should I do workouts that dont cause pain? I find just moving is painful...

[QUOTE=Holly2710;494213701]Ok, so it could be the trap? What about using a tennis ball as a message tool. Im a little strapped for cash and cant afford messages. I could just lay on a tennis ball? Should I do workouts that dont cause pain? I find just moving is painful...[/QUOTE]

Yes to the tennis ball suggestion, whether you workout is up to you. I would others might not, entirely your decision.

Edit; you should try FLbeaches exercise too provided it is not painful, you should be able to stretch the area by allowing the scapula be pulled forward.

tennis ball is good. you can also set the bar up on a squat rack or incline bench to the right level and then lean back on it and massage your rhomboid that way. As far as working out, only you can make that call. I think that doing only exercises that don't aggrevate it would be fine to do, maybe even bennificial.

[QUOTE=Holly2710;494213701]Ok, so it could be the trap? What about using a tennis ball as a message tool. Im a little strapped for cash and cant afford messages. I could just lay on a tennis ball? Should I do workouts that dont cause pain? I find just moving is painful...[/QUOTE]

go see a doctor. your health is a priority
think about this: if there's damage/inflamation/tearing in a muscle or tendon, what benefit do you think there will be of squishing a tennis ball further into that tissue? seriously, imagine what that looks like.

Another thing: learn some mobility work to help explore staying mobile without ever ever ever moving into pain.

These things cost money, but as said, your health is a priority and the costs of not taking care of yourself multiply in terms of time off work, out of exercise and so on.

mc

****ty, I hate doctors. They alwyas jsut give me painkillers or say there is nothing they can do. I have an appointment for the 26th, and will continue doing stretches. You guys dont happen to have a link for stretches do you? I heard stretching throughout the day increases flexibility and reduces risk of injury.
thanks again guys

So what did the MD tell you? I think it is more a trapezius issue than a rhomboid issue. I know this sounds weird but this one stretch I use for my traps...sit in a chair and bend over and grab the front legs about 1/2-3/4 down the leg. Then bring my back up like I am trying to sit up without letting my grip on the legs go. While trying to sit up round your back and let the scapulas (shoulder blades) roll forward, this is key to the stretch. Depending on how I modify my grip on the chair and how I roll my back I can get different parts of my back stretched out. Going to the doc was a smart move because you said that this happened last year and you are still dealing with this, they will be able to prescribe physical/physio therapy and do tests that will determine what is really wrong. Good luck and let us know what the problem was, I am curious...

[QUOTE=toobigmike;495770641]"pain is temporary; pride is forever".[/QUOTE]


alot of the athletes i work with may beg to disagree a bit with that.


- just saying.


the nice thing is research is pretty conclusive that we can train without pain and gain.

mc

[QUOTE=Holly2710;493984701]Hi, Last year I went swimming and I brought my arm to high up and felt this sharp electrical ripping feeling in my right rhomboid. I took 2 weeks off weights and was fine. Every once in a while if I make the wrong movement like lower back extensions I will feel a tiny electrical pain. Sometimes randonly I also feel tingling in that area. The other day I was doing side lateral raises on the cable machine when I felt that pain again. Only I was stupid and pushed through it. I thought it would just go away the next day like it always does, but now its not. I got a message therapist to work on it. It didnt work, Im still in pain. I have been modifying my workouts to put as little stress on my back. I really need your help figuring this out! I cant do any back workouts! I just feel alot of tightness in that area, and have been icing, stretching and taking supplements. Cant go to a doctor till the 26th, but they never help me anyways. Just thought you guys might know. Please help :([/QUOTE]

Before you read some more I think you need to stop working out and see a Physical Therapist. One thing they would probably look at are the surrounding muscles to pick up the slack of whether it be the Trapezius or Rhomboids. Or get an x ray.

As a Massage Practitioner I'm curious to know what the Massage Therapist you went to said or what you said to them? What I'd like to know is if you also feel pain elsewhere aside from the Rhomboid area? When you massage it is it just that area? How's your range of motion?

[B]But if it's a shooting pain then it could be a pinched nerve. It possibly is a compression fracture from when you brought your arm "too high up".
[/B]
When doing Lateral Raises, the more you're at an angle, the more work your Rhomboids are used for work. If you're stand straight up, of course, your Deltoids, but as you bend over more and more to work the Upper Back the Rhomboids come into play. Basically the Actions of the Rhomboids are to bring the Scapulas closer together and to stabilize it.

For Trapezius, there are three fibers, upper, middle, lower. Based on the location, the Middle Fibers are right on top of the Rhomboids and referred pain is exactly in that region. The Action for the Middle Fibers are the same as the Rhomboids.

[QUOTE=mc-;495796881]alot of the athletes i work with may beg to disagree a bit with that.


- just saying.


the nice thing is research is pretty conclusive that we can train without pain and gain.

mc[/QUOTE]

There are different kinds of pain...the key is to be smart about it. Example: Good Pain; when it burns like there is a torch on your muscle during your last reps of your last set and you work through that. Bad Pain; shooting pain in shoulder during your DB presses and continuing through that, not smart...

[QUOTE=toobigmike;496044421]There are different kinds of pain...the key is to be smart about it. Example: Good Pain; when it burns like there is a torch on your muscle during your last reps of your last set and you work through that. Bad Pain; shooting pain in shoulder during your DB presses and continuing through that, not smart...[/QUOTE]

There is a huge difference between discomfort and pain.

With respect to the muscular fatigue you're describing that usually is associated with higher rep going to failure, there's really no literature that says there's either performance or growth value associated with that.

There's a HYPOTHESIS that if you've tried everything else and you're at an elite level, and you're trying to coax some extra growth that will do soemthing - but all it's associated with is extra GH production - which is not associated with correlated muscle growth.

so, i go with

no pain, no pain.

There's no too much literature that says gratuitously inducing pain has too many unpredictable consequences for about zero quantitative value. so

ya

no pain, no pain.
pretty comfortable with that. doesn't mean don't work hard.

mc

[QUOTE=mc-;496147161]There is a huge difference between discomfort and pain.

With respect to the muscular fatigue you're describing that usually is associated with higher rep going to failure, there's really no literature that says there's either performance or growth value associated with that.

There's a HYPOTHESIS that if you've tried everything else and you're at an elite level, and you're trying to coax some extra growth that will do soemthing - but all it's associated with is extra GH production - which is not associated with correlated muscle growth.

so, i go with

no pain, no pain.

There's no too much literature that says gratuitously inducing pain has too many unpredictable consequences for about zero quantitative value. so

ya

no pain, no pain.
pretty comfortable with that. doesn't mean don't work hard.

mc[/QUOTE]

straight up

I have the same problem but not as serious as yours. My is affected when ever a do a vigorous twisting motion like a trunk twist. It's probably gonna get better, but most likely it will happen over a long period of time. Because something like this happened to mean quite some time ago. Nice body by the way

I have been dealing with chronic Rhomboid Pain from a tennis injury for 2 years now and I think I have FINALLY FOUND THE SOLUTIONS...which you need to try if everything else has FAILED, meaning these did NOT work ( rest, ice, PT, muscle relaxers, anti inflammatory medication, Cortisone injections, massage, chiropractor, acupuncture, etc)

Here are the BEST/MOST EFFECTIVE Rhomboid therapies:

1) Buy a Saddle chair - Especially if you sit all day at work on in school. You can find them on Amazon.com. It will help with your posture by bringing your shoulders & your neck back to take pressure off your rhomboid.

2) Sleep on your BACK- with a piece of FOAM cut out to fit underneath your UPPER BACK to support your Rhomboid. Then elevate your legs by putting pillows or a bolster under your knees. This position will allow your rhomboid to heal at night & will be the most comfortable position to rest in.

3) Find a Sports medicine Doctor- These are the ONLY types of doctors that MIGHT have seen a Rhomboid tear in their entire career, its very rare for even sports medicine doctors to have seen or treated it, So make sure you call around and see if you can find one who has treated a Rhomboid injury before, or just specializes in soft tissue & muscle injuries) The best way to image the Rhomboid muscle to see if you have a tear is by using an ultra sound machine, so if you can find a sports medicine doctor that uses ultra sound to diagnose that would be your best bet.

3) S3 POSTURAL BRACE- Ask the sports medicine doctor to prescribe you a "S3 POSTURAL BRACE" this is brace that is made to help stabilize your Scapula so your Rhomboid can stabilize and heal. The reason Rhomboid injuries take forever to heal is because they are almost impossible to immobilize, but this brace is a total break through and will help tremendously.Google it to read more about it. You can just order them online as well, but they are around $400.

4) Neural Prolotherapy- Find a sports medicine doctor who performs "neural Prolotherapy" and or "Prolotherapy". These are new injections that will eliminate pain & induce the injury to actually heal. google Neural Prolotherapy & traditional prolotherapy and read up about what the injections do exactly. They are NOT cortisone injections, which if you do have a real Rhomboid injury, cortisone injections wont work because there is barely any inflammation when it is injured because the Rhomboid muscle lacks blood supply.

5) Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) injections- If the Neural prolo injections did not work then the sports medicine doctor can do PRP injections. Google PRP and read up about it as well. PRP, along with Prolotherapy, is a break through therapy that professional athletes use all the time and the results are amazing.

[QUOTE=Holly2710;493984701]Hi, Last year I went swimming and I brought my arm to high up and felt this sharp electrical ripping feeling in my right rhomboid. I took 2 weeks off weights and was fine. Every once in a while if I make the wrong movement like lower back extensions I will feel a tiny electrical pain. Sometimes randonly I also feel tingling in that area. The other day I was doing side lateral raises on the cable machine when I felt that pain again. Only I was stupid and pushed through it. I thought it would just go away the next day like it always does, but now its not. I got a message therapist to work on it. It didnt work, Im still in pain. I have been modifying my workouts to put as little stress on my back. I really need your help figuring this out! I cant do any back workouts! I just feel alot of tightness in that area, and have been icing, stretching and taking supplements. Cant go to a doctor till the 26th, but they never help me anyways. Just thought you guys might know. Please help :([/QUOTE]