United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hi everybody, I got my wing about 5 months ago,and just recently my neck started to really hurt alot,when the docs initialy did the mri, they said i had a slightly protruding disk,barely touching my spine,,but 4 different docs said that almost everybody has protuding disks. I dont buy this, I recently went to see a neurosurgeon about the new pain in my neck and to see if it could be related to or be the cause of the winging scap(mabey the disk is pushing on the thoracic nerve?) anyway, he wants me to have a milogram done (YAYE) and see if there is anything that the mri didnt pick up. Has anyone else had a milogram for this? I am soooo sick of living my life as if im an old man. 6 months ago i swam, played basketball,lifted weights, picked up my children, and slept normally..its amazing what we take for granted.
good luck everybody and god bless.

I've suffered with a winged scapula for over 3 years now. After 7 doctors and abosolutely no help except learning to live with it, I also had a consultation with Dr. Warner and he felt he could take part of my hamstring muscle attached it to the pec muscle, go under the arm, drill a hole in the scapula, pull this muscle thru and attach it at another area. When I asked him if the daily pain would be gone after all the surgery was done and pt as well, his answer was that everyone heals differently and there was no guarantees on the pain, just the stability of the shoulder. I have done alot of research on the surgery and this answer to the pain question is pretty universal, some who have the surgery experience less pain, but the statistics are on the side of the same level and/or more pain. I would be very interested in your experience with Dr. Warner and certainly if you do choose to have the surgery what the outcome was. I wouldn't wish this condition on anyone but I know what my worst days with the pain feel like,but seriously fear those days could be worse. Right now that risk is too great. Pls stay on the site and let all of us know how it goes for you. Best of luck.
Thanks

Hey, Thanks for all the good info. I've been winging for over 4 years. Like all of you I've been to many doctors, therapists,chiropractors,natural healers on and on.They have all been happy to take my money but I've seen no results I don't seem to have the constant pain many of you speak of I feel lucky for that although I'm ready to be done with the problem. I have been scheduled for nerve decompression surgery this november. Has there been one positive success story any of you could share with me regarding this

Hello. I have a 14 year old with scapular winging as a result of a BPI injury at birth. She has a lot of function, but her injury is really beginning to impact her participation in horseback riding (posture) and swimming.

Does anyone know if swimming aggravates the BPI, we will be seeing Kozin this week.

Hi guys.
My name is Karl. I come from New Zealand and I'm 15 years old. I charged into a tackle afew weeks ago now and my whole left side from my neck to my finger tips was numb for a couple of hours. I could barely move it so I went to the Doctor, she didn't really know what was wrong with it so she just recommended an x-ray and an ultra sound but they still couldn't find anything wrong with it. The doctor then recommended I go to the physio. The lady there was really good. She straight away expected it was a nerve injury and sent me to a sporting specialis. He said it was a long thorasic nerve injury because of my winging scapula and restricted movements. he said I can return to all my usual sports like rugby and inline hockey and he said it would take up to two years to heal. Just dont tackle with my left side. But it does still hurt a lot sometimes. Please send some information if you have any.

Karl, Hi! Welcome to UBPN. Sorry to hear about your injury! The most important thing is to get the right diagnosis to get the best medical treatment. Have you had any MRI's to see if the nerves are torn from the spine? I hope it isnt TOO serious! Hope your Dr. can help you! These people here are great at answering your questions with almost everything. I have a son who is 12 and he played football. Last year he had an accident on his ATV and got a right traumatic brachial plexus injury. He had nerves torn from his spine and just recently had surgery. You should be really careful playing sports until you find out for sure. If its still hurting that bad, you might want to wait a while. You could really hurt yourself worse, maybe?

I would rather have two torn acl's, a broken arm, a broken leg, burns, you name it.....than this fustrating injury! The crazy thing is I didnt even have any kind of accident or injury!! I woke up one night with a horrible burning sensation in my back and ...presto!Chanego! My life is now upside down with pain, doctors, and no end in sight. does ANYONE have ANYTHING positive to say in their experience with this thoracic nerve problem??

desperate and now pissed off -mike

ok.... does ANYBODY read this forum?? I have questions about this condition that the stupid doctors dont know and i would expect that at least SOMEBODY could give some answers. People are constantly asking questions,yet nobody responds!! Are there any docs who look at this forum? They should!!! They may get more of an understanding about the pain and fustration... I feel as if ive contracted some sort of incurable disease which nobody nknows anything about!!! Cmon people!!! We need to help each other... no one else is going too...
-mike

Good news!

I go in for Dynamic Muscle transfer surgery in 7weeks!

this is good news??!!