professional opinions please

[Obs]

I have had a condition called winging scapula for years and am sick of it. I have researched it a lot and am still not sure how to correct it. I have thought about surgery but the chances of correcting it when a person has had it as long as i have is very slim. The cause as best as I can figure is damage to the long thoracic nerve which causes partial to total paralisis of the serratus anterior muscle. I know that working this muscle lightly with cable rows, bent over rows, etc. can help some people but I am afraid I am past that point. Many weight lifters get this condition although I don't know that I got it from lifting because I have had it ever since I can remember. If anyone knows of any treatments I would appreciate feed back. I was also thinking about spot injecting test... Anyone think that would do any good?
P.S. Anyone who has this condition should try to correct it immediately! Like I said your chances of correcting it decrease with time. I'm gonna hate it if i have to live like this the rest of my life!

[Obs]

I don't want to piss anyone off but I'm gonna bump this! I want answers/opinions!

[SMAN12b]

give this thread some time to get noticed by Doc Sust, maybe he can help you out

[Obs]

I'm gonna bump this one more time and wait thirty minutes then I'm going to bed. You out there doc sust?

[SMAN12b]

keep in mind its the weekend and we are all on here as volunteers, he may have an actual life and may take him time to get to this thread....try to be patient

If you don't get a reply bump it again on Monday

[stacked566]

we did a case report for my clinical anatomy (master's degree in health science-bio capstone class) and found that surgical decompression (neurolysis) of the nerve has one of the best rates of success for this condition. good luck

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/art...&artid=1831472

[Obs]

Thank you stacked566 Most of the research I did on the subject was written by Dr. Nath. I am hoping to avoid surgery if possible because there is a good chance that it will fail because I have had it for so long. I read that after 12 years the surgerys success rate is 0% and I'm pretty sure I've had it longer than that. I appreciate the info.

[notus]

I have had a condition called winging scapula for years and am sick of it. I have researched it a lot and am still not sure how to correct it. I have thought about surgery but the chances of correcting it when a person has had it as long as i have is very slim. The cause as best as I can figure is damage to the long thoracic nerve which causes partial to total paralisis of the serratus anterior muscle. I know that working this muscle lightly with cable rows, bent over rows, etc. can help some people but I am afraid I am past that point. Many weight lifters get this condition although I don't know that I got it from lifting because I have had it ever since I can remember. If anyone knows of any treatments I would appreciate feed back. I was also thinking about spot injecting test... Anyone think that would do any good?
P.S. Anyone who has this condition should try to correct it immediately! Like I said your chances of correcting it decrease with time. I'm gonna hate it if i have to live like this the rest of my life!

There are alot of people that have a wining scapula a better approach than rows would be scapular retraction using a cable machine, wall angels and also scapular retraction is the push up position. Remember in order to"turn on" the muscles you have to "turn off" other muscles that are overactive. More than likely you have protracted shoulder which can be caused by tight pectoralis major and minor, your lats also contribute to protraction because they attach in the bicepial groove... carefull when you do scapular retraction using the pulling that your shoulders don't elevate (a sign your traps are overactive) I do alot of corrective exercise with my clients and have a very high success rate. It's hard to tell exactly what steps to take without doing an assessment. I hope that that helps let me know if you have any more questions..

[stacked566]

Thank you stacked566 Most of the research I did on the subject was written by Dr. Nath. I am hoping to avoid surgery if possible because there is a good chance that it will fail because I have had it for so long. I read that after 12 years the surgerys success rate is 0% and I'm pretty sure I've had it longer than that. I appreciate the info.

While this is true, it is mostly true musclarly speaking. For example, you stated you've been trying to build up your serratus anterior, when in essence, most of this condition is related to the pinching of the long thoracis nerve between the serratus posterior and other muscle groups (trapezius, pec minor, etc). In decompression neurolysis, they remove the tension and usually normal function of the nerve returns, no matter how long the injury has been sustained. The main negative factors contributed to surgery, are cases in which blunt trauma, such as a car accident, severe blow or other forms of force have caused a physical severance or paralysis of the nerve. Now and electomagnetic pulse scan will show if the nerve is still capable of transmitting a charge or not. The other surgery options are using a pec major myofibril and replacing the serratus anterior muscle with a few pieces of that, or physically binding the inferolateral margin of the infraspinous fossa of the scapula to the coxal (hip) or rib cage in some cases...you see there are several different surgeries associated with this. Again, I really like how surgical nuerolysis looks on paper...just my .03.

[Obs]

You guys are really helpful. You've both taught me a couple of things. I had heard from a newbie massage therapist that I had tight pecs (other than her and notus I'd never heard it before) but I didn't believe her because she is a chronic dumbass and failed her tests regularly. Maybe she was right after all!? I guess I'll quit complaining and give it another six months or so with retraction exercises. If I don't see some results by then I'm headed to surgery. Thanks I have restored faith that I'm gonna overcome this!

[stacked566]

good luck. personally i would see an orthopedic surgeon, just to get their thoughts...never hurts to have more opinions :-)