Does anybody get sore shoulder blades? My left shoulder blade has been hurting since November last year. Went to the acupuncturist initially who thought it could have been a torn rotator cuff, but looking at other chiari posts, Im thinking it may be chiari related. It's not agonising but it's always there and I have not got a syrinx. Please advise! I am confused.
Sore shoulders and neck were my first symptoms. Mine was caused by knotts in the muscles called trigger points. I have trigger point injections were they put lidocane in the it to supposidly numb it and hopefully make it go away. They didn't work for me and actually made me flair up for weeks. What helped me and still helps is applying pressure to the spot until it starts to unravel the knot. Trigger points can also cause referal pain that may seem unrelated but isn't. There is a great book on Amazon that shows you how to treat them it's called...'The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook' by Claire Davies. It has been a life saver in my life and I have purchased many times for gifts for family members struggling with muscle pain.
It sounds like you are having a neuralgia in your shoulder. Have you seen a Neurologist?
Yes. But as usual when I see him I am concentrating on my head/neck pain and getting my meds right and had a "chiari" moments and forgot to mention the shoulder blade. I will ring him though. I may try the acupuncture again too. She treated me on the right hip which is a trigger point for the left shoulder blade and it kinda worked temporarily.
TracyZ said:
It sounds like you are having a neuralgia in your shoulder. Have you seen a Neurologist?
My acupuncturist treated me on the right hip which worked temporarily so I might go down that route again before i see my neurologist for the next appointment. The right hip is a trigger point for the shoulder blade I am assuming?
wendyanne said:
Sore shoulders and neck were my first symptoms. Mine was caused by knotts in the muscles called trigger points. I have trigger point injections were they put lidocane in the it to supposidly numb it and hopefully make it go away. They didn't work for me and actually made me flair up for weeks. What helped me and still helps is applying pressure to the spot until it starts to unravel the knot. Trigger points can also cause referal pain that may seem unrelated but isn't. There is a great book on Amazon that shows you how to treat them it's called...'The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook' by Claire Davies. It has been a life saver in my life and I have purchased many times for gifts for family members struggling with muscle pain.
smahney, Many of the acupuncture points correspond to the similar referal points with trigger points. I will look in my book and get back to you.
I sent you a reply and then went back and edited/added to it (it was very long) and I hit save and now I don't see it. Did you get it? I put alot of info in it.
Oh my gosh! I keep complaining of upper back pain and my PCP keeps telling me that I have knots in there. I kept thinking she was nuts b/c it hurts all over. I used heat for the past 6 weeks and it has not helped. My pcp wants to give me muscle relaxers, but they just make me more tired.
I guess it's not going to post! Arghh! Okay her goes again...
There is a muscle the Latissimus Dorsi muscle that effects your hip and shoulder. Trigger points usually come in clusters because if one muscle is tight it tightens up muscles around it and you start to compensate for the pain and tightness.
If you want to try the trigger point release tech. You can get a tennis ball and lye on the floor put the tennis ball under the most painful part. You will know it's a trigger point if it takes your breath away or you want to yell out. The intial pain is the worse as you lye on the ball the knot will start to unravel and the pain will lessen and you can apply more pressure. You will have to do this several times a day for several days because the muscle wants to go back into a knot. And there will probably be more than one trigger point. As you lay on the ball you will often feel where the referal pain is.You'll feel tingling or numbness or a zing down your arm or into your hip where ever that particular point is connected to. Manytimes people will treat the referal pain points to no avail because the pain is being caused in a different area. You can Google the author Claire Davies and or Janet Travell. Travell is the woman that first mapped the trigger points and their referal points. If you Google Travell Trigger points in images you will see some of the mapping.
The other thing that comes to mind is that often our lifestyles of sitting and working at computers causes the muscles of the upper back and neck to stretch and the muscles of the front of the neck to become shorter. This cause pain and headaches. The book gives some methods to loosen and stretch the muscles in the front of the neck and take some pressure off the ones in the back. Two other things. Often with Chiari people have a cape like pain pattern and Fibromialgia is from trigger point pain but you need to be diagnosed with 12 trigger point flairs in specific places on your body by a doctor that deals with Fibromialgia.
Good luck I hope some of this helps.
Nicolee, I just posted some info/techniques you can try for the knots.
nicolee said:
Oh my gosh! I keep complaining of upper back pain and my PCP keeps telling me that I have knots in there. I kept thinking she was nuts b/c it hurts all over. I used heat for the past 6 weeks and it has not helped. My pcp wants to give me muscle relaxers, but they just make me more tired.
I fully believe accupuncture is a wonderful treatment for Pain & Motion Sickness. My daughter saw an Oriental Medicine Specialist for a year. She has a Kyphosis. When I had Microvascular Decompression Surgery, the hospital brought in an accupuncturist to treat me for Motion Sickness due to a broken mastoid bone .....that filled up with spinal fluid. It helped, but didn't take it all away. It was a lot better than just nausea medicine though.
smahney said:
Yes. But as usual when I see him I am concentrating on my head/neck pain and getting my meds right and had a "chiari" moments and forgot to mention the shoulder blade. I will ring him though. I may try the acupuncture again too. She treated me on the right hip which is a trigger point for the left shoulder blade and it kinda worked temporarily.
TracyZ said:It sounds like you are having a neuralgia in your shoulder. Have you seen a Neurologist?
My daughter's shoulders are killing her all of the time. Tried biofeedback, massage and acupuncture, all to no avail. She does her biofeedback relaxation stuff and stretches the area all day, every day. At least for her, I just think that the pain in her head and non-stop stress of having zero docs that can help have lead to this. She does not have a syrinx either. Chairi 1, 11mm. Everybody is different but she's found acupuncture to be not at all helpful (or any meds, treatments, etc,...). Stay strong!!
Thank you!
wendyanne said:
smahney, Many of the acupuncture points correspond to the similar referal points with trigger points. I will look in my book and get back to you.
Its hard isnt it? My acpuncture treatment only worked temporarily. None of the meds relieved it. Thanks for your reply.
Gma7938 said:
My daughter's shoulders are killing her all of the time. Tried biofeedback, massage and acupuncture, all to no avail. She does her biofeedback relaxation stuff and stretches the area all day, every day. At least for her, I just think that the pain in her head and non-stop stress of having zero docs that can help have lead to this. She does not have a syrinx either. Chairi 1, 11mm. Everybody is different but she's found acupuncture to be not at all helpful (or any meds, treatments, etc,...). Stay strong!!It
I was prescribed 2mg Valium (as a muscle relaxant) as well but they only make me tired! Don't help the shoulder blade pain!
wendyanne said:
Nicolee, I just posted some info/techniques you can try for the knots.
nicolee said:Oh my gosh! I keep complaining of upper back pain and my PCP keeps telling me that I have knots in there. I kept thinking she was nuts b/c it hurts all over. I used heat for the past 6 weeks and it has not helped. My pcp wants to give me muscle relaxers, but they just make me more tired.
Shall try this and let you know!
wendyanne said:
I guess it's not going to post! Arghh! Okay her goes again...
There is a muscle the Latissimus Dorsi muscle that effects your hip and shoulder. Trigger points usually come in clusters because if one muscle is tight it tightens up muscles around it and you start to compensate for the pain and tightness.
If you want to try the trigger point release tech. You can get a tennis ball and lye on the floor put the tennis ball under the most painful part. You will know it's a trigger point if it takes your breath away or you want to yell out. The intial pain is the worse as you lye on the ball the knot will start to unravel and the pain will lessen and you can apply more pressure. You will have to do this several times a day for several days because the muscle wants to go back into a knot. And there will probably be more than one trigger point. As you lay on the ball you will often feel where the referal pain is.You'll feel tingling or numbness or a zing down your arm or into your hip where ever that particular point is connected to. Manytimes people will treat the referal pain points to no avail because the pain is being caused in a different area. You can Google the author Claire Davies and or Janet Travell. Travell is the woman that first mapped the trigger points and their referal points. If you Google Travell Trigger points in images you will see some of the mapping.
The other thing that comes to mind is that often our lifestyles of sitting and working at computers causes the muscles of the upper back and neck to stretch and the muscles of the front of the neck to become shorter. This cause pain and headaches. The book gives some methods to loosen and stretch the muscles in the front of the neck and take some pressure off the ones in the back. Two other things. Often with Chiari people have a cape like pain pattern and Fibromialgia is from trigger point pain but you need to be diagnosed with 12 trigger point flairs in specific places on your body by a doctor that deals with Fibromialgia.
Good luck I hope some of this helps.
I'm going to try this because I have pain in my left shoulder also that feels better when someone applies pressure to it, now I have to find a tennis ball.
Tradee, Awesome, Just keep doing it over a week or two and other spots might arise as your body wants to stay the way it is. So you may need to do several spots. Also the book is about 20 dollars with shipping. If you find that it starts to help it's well worth it to get the book. <3 Wendy
THANKS WENDY! DID YOU GET THE BOOK OFF OF AMAZON AND WHATS THE NAME?
The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook by Claire Davies on Amazon. It has 4 1/2 stars with 375 reviews. It is fantastic.