2 1/2 yrs after shoulder Surgery...Symptoms are not getting better..Neck&arm pain?

[brollickby06]

Hello everybody. I have a long messy story so please bear with me.
Background: I am 26 years old. I started lifting in 2006 and my issues began in late 09-2010.

Late 09-2010: I had chronic shoulder pain over a year ago and found out I had impingement of my rotator cuff muscle. After months of Physical Therapy and rest the pain remained.
My pain was only present in my shoulder at my rotator cuff and only present if I tried to exercise or use my shoulder.

Aug 10th: After a year of rest and some physical therapy, I finally had surgery in my shoulder. My ortho did a subacromial decompression and distal clavicle excision. A bony spur was removed. He said The tear in the supraspinatus was minor and didn't require surgical repair. He also mentioned very minor damage in my labrum that didn't require repair but just needed to be "cleaned up." He says everything went perfectly and the surgery was a success.
I went to physical therapy as indicated after surgery. But about a month after surgery, I started having a burning/inflamed feeling on the lateral side of my neck. This was soon accompanied by tingling pain in my arms (especially forearm and index finger)
I NEVER had these symptoms before my surgery. Nothing even remotely close to this
I spoke with my ortho and he RIGHT AWAY said "This has nothing to do with your surgery....its incidental...You have cervical spinal issues. I had a cervical MRI done which stated a minor posterior bulge at c2/c3. My PT and primary care doctor think this is an incidental finding and a spine mri in anyone will find a minor buldge. But my ortho insists this is the problem and it incidentally started happening a month after the surgery he performed...

My ortho said to take the conservative route and have physical therapy/traction therapy done.
I followed my ortho's advice and had cervical traction done and continued with physical therapy.
I also went to a neurologist who said my neurological findings are all normal..
I had 2 cervical MRI's with similar findings
I had 2 EMG/Nerve conduction tests with normal findings.

Over the past year and a half I really gave up at times. As I was a 3rd/4th year medical student, I was extremely busy with working and studying...unfortunately I put my health on the backburner. I have been living in chronic pain. Some days are okay, but other days are much worse. My pain is exacerbated by any upper body exercise or lifting (especially shoulder/chest muscle use). When I do try to exercise, I start feeling a discomfort on the lateral side of my neck hours later. This turns into neck inflammation hours later. Usually the next day, I will have tingling pain in my arm and usually index/middle finger.

The most frustrating part for me is the fact that no one truly diagnosed my problem.


It has been over 2 years since my surgery and Im still having these terrible symptoms all on my right side
-Tingling pain in my elbow, forearm, and even fingers...especially worse the day after I use my shoulder
-Neck feels inflamed/painful on the right side
-Rarely feel pain in shoulder/AC Joint

**All symptoms are worse the days after exercise or strenuous activity**



I have been to my ortho, received a cortisone injection, tried cervical traction, active release therapy, and been to 3 physical therapists. I have been using NSAIDs as needed and fish oil daily for inflammation.

At this point I am extremely frustrated and depressed. I just want to know exactly what is wrong so I can pinpoint the problem and try to take care of it properly...
I have stopped lifting completely for 2 years and am in the worst shape of my life. I am very close to losing hope. I have a repeat MRI scheduled for next month and recently started visiting a DO doctor (doctor of osteopathic medicine) for spinal manipulation. I really don't know what else to do. Does anyone have any ideas or guidance? Or even an appropriate doctor/PT to try in the NYC/Long Island area?

I dont know what to do at this point.

[PieWheatley]

They should be able to diagnose whether the disc bulge is impinging on the nerve and causing the tingling. If it is C2/3 nerve root then you are looking at dermatomal pattern of C3. Look up. C3 dermatome and see if it relates to your tingling distribution.
A secondary diagnosis could be thoracic outlet syndrome- that Usually has vascular changes too- hot and cold feeling, maybe change in colour.
You need to look up the distribution of a few nerves - radial, ulnar and median and see if their distribution fits your tingling pattern.

[KBKB]

I dont know what to do at this point.

Have you tried trigger point therapy?

[brollickby06]

Have you tried trigger point therapy?

I havent tried trigger point therapy, just regular PT and Active Release Therapy.

I am debating between trying acupuncture first or trigger point therapy. Any other suggestions? Does this definitely sound like neuropathy?

[KBKB]

I havent tried trigger point therapy, just regular PT and Active Release Therapy.

I am debating between trying acupuncture first or trigger point therapy. Any other suggestions? Does this definitely sound like neuropathy?

Given your education in medicine, you would be a better judge of that than me.

But I can say that this resource has worked very well for me: The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook. If you pursue this type of treatment, I would think that working on trigger points in the scalenes would be at or near the top of the list.

[autosmash]

Did you ever find relief for your neck / scapula pain? I'm in a very similar situation 5 months post op from a subacromial decompression and I have the same symptoms as yourself... Tried everything you have, looking for relief!

[Martymar0432]

Hello, I had the exact same surgery as you had and I have exactly the same outcome, the doctor cleaned up the labrum and I had a minor tear in the superspinatus which was left alone and the discal excision. I mean our symptoms are exactly the same I was just wondering if you have found any relief. I never had any of these other problems till this surgery and now I'm wishing I never did this.

[nebot33]

I had slap/bankart repair with 4 anchors and a torn supraspinatus with 2 acnhcors plus the distal clavial excision and sub acromonial decompression. The whole deal. was in pt the next day, out of sling at 1 week, back to a chefs job after 2.5 weeks, and lifting at 3 months. Stronger at 6 months post-op than before and regained weight with less body fat. I am now 1 year and 9 months post-op and i still get numbness and tingling in hands/fingers,elbows. My shoulder as of yesterday squeakes like a rusty door. I have found the muscles and ligaments and anchors all are still re-adapting to being tighter, and the only thing that has helped is massage and chiropractic therapy every week.