United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Hi,I been horrified by everyone's experiences of winged scapula.A few months ago I was struck with a virus, which affected my joints and muscles. I was in agony,had a rash, and felt quite ill. Since I recovered Ihad tingling down my lower right arm, and two weeks ago I noticed my right scapula was winging. At the moment I am waiting for the results of my xray. I am so worried, none of my family or friends have ever heard of this. My Doctor says it is quite rare, she has referred me to a phsio and an orthopeidic surgeon. I am not in very much pain, but have decreased mobility in my right arm, with difficulty in raising it.I of work now, until I get the results of my xray. I would like to ask if anyone knows if,by doing normal every day jobs,such as housework, or swimming which I love, will make it worse. I have been trying to clean using my left hand, but as I am right handed it's very difficult. Hope to hear from anyone soon. Babs

Hi Babs
So sorry that you are struggling to deal with this also! I hope you will be one of the fortunate ones for whom this is a "temporary" problem. It seems that all of the doctors are baffled by this injury and most underplay its consequences. Good to hear you are not coping with too much pain, as is the primary issue for many of us.
You probably haven't got an answer to your question because, well, no one really knows the answer for sure.
I know that for me, any activity which involves pushing, pulling, reaching or lifting increase my pain and that sitting at the computer for long periods will also aggravate symptoms...I believe that this is because, without the functioning serratus muscle, other smaller muscles are forced to try to do their job and this puts a lot of strain on them. There is also a lot of drag on the neck and shoulder from the loss of strength in the shoulder. I am not sure if these activities will "make you worse" in the long run but doing these sorts of things without support to the serratus will usually cause more pain.
For me, the best exercise for my shoulder is none at all...but others may say otherwise. It is important to keep the shoulder moving to prevent "frozen shoulder" but gently...less is more. This is not the case of needing to build up a muscle (because the muscle is not getting the nerve impulses to make it function). Until it does you are only straining yourself more.
Just my two cents...not very positive but coming from someone who has been coping for 5 years with a LTN injury...I hope you have better success. Remember that the healing of an injured nerve can take a very long time and it is difficult to know if you will have complete recovery, or not, as it depends greatly on the extent of damage done.
I hope you are one of the luckier ones.
Take care
Nan

Thanks so much for your reply. I am a very new internet user, and did'nt know if I'd done it right! How did you get your ltn injury? Is your scapula still winging after five years? Do you work? sorry to ask so many questions but I'm so relieved to actually communicate with someone who has experienced this, as up to now your's is the only reply I have had.My daughters were laughing at me for posting on this site, but I'm glad I did, what direction should I know go in, I hav'nt had the results of my xray yet, so many people on this website seem to have had nerve tests, is that the way to go? I feel such a freak with this winged scapula, does'nt it look so odd? My right arm feels like it is'nt attached to my body, it is a really weird feeling, in your experience of talking to people have they ever had it from a virus? hope to hear from you soon. Thanks again for replying. Babs

Babs,
I saw your post and wanted to let you know that my injury also happened in a weird way, so you are not the only one out there! I had a c-section on 5/10/04 to deliver my daughter and strained my neck to watch the nurses take care of her as they stitched me up. I strained so hard for so long, that is how I ended up with a BPI. I'm a "lucky one" I guess since I am heeling quite well, but still have pain, weakness, etc. But it gets a little better every month.

I think the best thing for you is to make sure you've got a good doctor who knows how to handle your injury. Xrays probably won't show much if it's a BPI, you'll need a nerve test for that, those aren't fun, but you'll know the extent of your damage.

Also as far as activity goes, in the beginning I didn't do a lot because of the pain. I just made sure I kept my arm lose and moved it very slowly to stretch it. My doc always told me to keep it moving, but that is hard to do when you are in pain!

I hope you find some answers. I know it's hard, but hang in there and don't give up on recovery. Hopefully since this wasn't a very tramatic accident it will not be as bad as some injuries. With mine I was "paralyzed" about 2-3 months, but like I said, slowly recovering. Please feel free to email me if you need to talk. mhays@texasrangers.com

Take care,
Michelle

Hi michelle, thanks for your reply. Am a very new internet user, so am using the reply on this site, but will try to email you also. How long was your scapula winging, because I hate this, it looks so ugly and freaky! and it feels like my right arm does'nt really belong to my body. Is this how you felt? Babs