United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

had l rib resection for tos due to xtra ribs causing vascular and nerve compression dec6. was doing great then had bad car accident on jan3 where we were rearended and pushed into the car in front of us. i nor my surgeon had noticed any winging of scapula before wreck. pain was worse after accident on left side with burning nerve pain worse. started pt yesterday and told him of noticing winging 2 days before he was unsure. i saw my ortho for my neck and he asked if winging started after wreck..called my tos surgeon and he thinks accident caused winging too. i know one complication of rib resection is scapular winging if long thoracic nerve is damaged but i was doing well before wreck and now at times it feels like my scapula is tearing away from my back. was this a complication of tos surgery or did my accident cause it. oh my right side is now showing tos as well as possible disc damage. the guy who hit us was going 60mph is what he told the cop but it was on the interstate so im sure it could have been faster, we were slowing down at time of impact due to woman slowing in front of us who stated she was slowed to about 50 when we were pushed into her. my son estimated us to have slowed to 40 maybe lower at impact. has anyone here heard of car accident causing the winging..i know it caused my tos to show up on right now...how is this treated?

http://freespace.virgin.net/steven.fromm/

This may be of interest to you, it has some explanation of how this injury could occur

James

Had my big wreck Dec. 12, '93--motorcycle. On May 11, '94 5 MONTHS LATER-- got hit by lady who ran red light, (I was in a car)--AFTER 2nd wreck noticed huge increase in winging of R. scap.--in '95 had R. arm amputated--FINALLY in '98 had R. scap. permanently attatched to rib cage--winging got SO bad--my scap. actually would slide into my armpit %75 of the time. T-2 WAS S-T-R-E-T-C-H-E-D TO HELL AND BACK-- The surgery helped a lot with "peripheral" pain and day to day "functionality".Went like this: Underside of scapula was abraded to raw bone--ribs like wise. Holes drilled in scap.--moved into position--holes drilled thru and on thru a couple or three ribs to correct position--Scapula "tied" into place on ribcage by "lacing" donated tendon thru holes, basically tying scapula down to ribcage-- as abraded bone healed, scap and ribs fused together. Came out GREAT. The winging was driving my to suicide and the saved my life and I ain't kidding.--Ronin

I meant to say" The winging was driving me to suicide and the surgery saved my life............"-Ronin

wow you have been thru alot..since this winging started my pain is getting worse im afraid of this..thanks for sharing you story. the pain is also worse since pt but all he is doing right now is gentle streches to keep scar tissue from forming on bp area he hsnt staarted working on winging problem yet..i had cervical mri yesterday and will get results thursday...thanks again.

i had a mri done that showed bulges at C5 and C6 i then had NCV's and EMG's done on both sides.i got my emg results the day of the test. on the left side my nerves and the LTN are damaged or severed from a few cm or mm from C5-7. and damage is shown on the right coming from C5. i will be seeing a neurosurgeon to do exploratory surgery soon to see what he can fix or graft back together. the neurologist who did the test said there is no question the severe whiplash caused the damage. my thoracic surgeon did not go anywhere near those nerves while removing the cervical rib. thankfully there is still some chance of recovery..thanks for all of your replys..amelia

Amelia
Happy to hear you are getting the attention you need from neurologists and neurosurgeons. I wish you all the best with your exploratory surgery.
Just out of curiosity...have you checked out this TOS website?... no doubt you have, but some interesting information and stories there.
http://www.tellmeabouttos.com/

Oops. forgot to mention that there is a pretty good diagram on the site as well showing the location of the various nerves and particularly the long thoracic nerve which would be causing the winging in most cases, although sometimes there can be accessory or suprascapular nerve involvement as well.
Take care.

yes i have and plan to add my own story when i can type that long..thanks again..Amy