› Forums › General › Scap/Shoulder/Pec Issue

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    • 07/01/2014 at 10:35 am #71009
      AvatarJesse Glushefski
      Participant

        So, I have long, long, long had a triad of pain involving the scap, shoulder and pec. I am never sure where the pain originates.. in fact, I think it moves around a lot. But most recently it lives under the scapula and it refers pain out to the pec in the form of burning angriness. Often in can also be felt in the anterior shoulder and sometimes armpit. I have tried smashing and rolling and this and that and the other. Anyone have any other solutions? I have seen many a chiro and physio that have often said to strengthen the rhomboids, to work on fixing shoulder posture, etc, but nothing ever really works. Anyone had a similar issue they solved? 

      • 07/01/2014 at 5:37 pm #74893
        AvatarAnonymous

          Did you suffer an injury or trauma to this area?
          Have you looked at your spine positioning?
          Stiff upper back?
          Wednesday, June 25th, 2014
          What is your upper body positioning when standing/sitting?
          Are you able to replicate an active shoulder position?
          How long have you continued a program before changing?
          How many times during a day are you working on it? May need shorter more frequent work.
          Have you looked up/down stream of where you are seeing the issue?
          Pro Episode # 21 – Pro-User Request Friday: Not Seeing The Change? You Need a Systems Approach.
          What about this daily rx
          Saturday, June 28th, 2014

        • 07/02/2014 at 8:34 am #74894
          AvatarJesse Glushefski
          Participant

            Hi Kaitlin,

            No one is really sure how it originated. It started about 1.5 years ago while bench pressing. It mainly just started as a pain radiated through the left chest. The first person I saw suggested that when I had Shingles in that region about 8 months prior that I changed my pattern of movement (pulling my shoulder forward and in bc my armpit and that region of my chest ached constantly). He suggested that this just continued and eventually led to the inward shoulder, winged scapula, tight pec minor cascade of destruction that apparently is very common. For a while this guy (a Physical Therapist) was able to make some changes with manual therapy and home stretching, but it always came back. I saw him for 4 months until my insurance ran out, the problem came back 3 months later. I am currently seeing a chiro that deals in manual therapies.. he makes immediate change, but nothing permanent. I do all my home stretching and a lot of smashing and such ala KStar. I am working on keeping the spine neutral, chin back, crown of head high, shoulders back and down… but if change is happening it is really slow going. I will watch the links you provided.. thanks for the response!
          • 07/02/2014 at 1:47 pm #74895
            AvatarAnonymous

              Have you done work to corrected your movement patterns?
              It will be at a conscious level for awhile as this is not a new situation.
              You need to break old habits and re wire new movement patterns.
              This patterning may be very common, but that doesn’t make it ok.
              Are you doing anything between times that you see the chiro?
              No days off with mobility.
              How long you are able to hold an adjustment will increase with time as the new neuropathways are grooved.
              Keeping the spine in neutral at all times is a foundational first step.
              Yes, this will seem like alot of work because it is at a very conscious level.
              As you break the incorrect position/movement patterning it won’t be at such a conscious level all the time.
              The improved positioning/movement patterns will be your default positioning/movement patterns with time.

            • 07/02/2014 at 5:20 pm #74899
              AvatarGabrielle Lee
              Participant

                Have you considered this?


                `JD

              • 07/08/2014 at 12:15 pm #74929
                AvatarJesse Glushefski
                Participant

                  Hi Josh, Yah I have come across that before, but it doesn’t follow my pain pattern. It seems that I follow the forward shoulder, shortened/overworked pec muscles which then refer pain to shoulder, scapula, sometimes neck.. etc. Its a vicious cycle and often hard to chase it around. Thanks tho.

                • 07/08/2014 at 12:18 pm #74930
                  AvatarJesse Glushefski
                  Participant

                    Hi Kaitlin,

                    Yah when I am in between chiro appts I do all the stretches that he assigns and I also do the smashing, mobility, etc that I find here on the site. But it clearly is a faulty pattern of movement… which makes it hard because I have to re-learn how to move all whilst maintaining athleticism. Thanks again.
                  • 07/08/2014 at 12:41 pm #74931
                    AvatarNathan Richer
                    Participant

                      There are some excellent videos on the topic of proper shoulder/scapula function, movement patterns, and fixing them by Evan Osar:


                      i would check them out and try some of the shoulder exercises here for rebuilding your movement patterns at the shoulder.

                      also i wouldn’t look at this as losing athleticism because you aren’t “working out” at the box. you are building *proper* athleticism through correct movement.
                    • 07/08/2014 at 12:45 pm #74932
                      AvatarNathan Richer
                      Participant

                        another good thing to check out. i’ve been using the crossover symmetry system for about 1.5 months now and getting some really good results: http://www.gosymmetry.com. it is working wonders for my crappy shoulders. you can get it at rogue fitness, or you can find it cheaper at atgstores.com.

                      • 07/09/2014 at 2:29 pm #74934
                        AvatarKarthik Gunnia
                        Participant

                          David. That link has nothing to do with what you’re talking about.

                        • 07/09/2014 at 6:35 pm #74937
                          AvatarNathan Richer
                          Participant

                            how weird! that link used to work. it was a short version of this: http://crossoversymmetry.com/. sorry about that.

                          • 07/11/2014 at 8:37 am #74945
                            AvatarJesse Glushefski
                            Participant

                              I have been considering x-over symmetry… good to hear it is worth it! Thanks guys!

                            • 07/11/2014 at 12:29 pm #74949
                              AvatarNathan Richer
                              Participant

                                if you get x-over, i would start lower than normal to make sure your form is perfect. also start with slower, deliberate movements. watch your shoulders out of the corners of your eyes and make sure they are doing the right thing and not drifting forward as you pull back the cables back.

                                there seems to be also some disagreement and/or new information about pinching the shoulder blades at the end of the movement as they describe. it sounds like the new crowd considers pinching the shoulder blades at the end can encourage poor scapula movement patterns. i’m kind of a convert to the new crowd so i ignored the x-over instruction of pinching at the end of each movement/rep. i only move to where i can keep my shoulder in the right place for that particular move and not more, until i get used to it and then can move more. and i don’t pinch the shoulder blades at the end.  i did this until i worked up to full range with perfect form. then i jumped up to the next level of cords.
                                otherwise, im trying to do this for 5 min each day in the mornings and it has done wonders. my pec/pec minor/anterior delts feel so untight after the activation sequence of movements. the other part is keeping 200% attention on my shoulders when i stand/sit/move all day long and making lots of adjustments to my chairs and car seat.
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