Daily Mobility Exercises by Dr. Kelly Starrett › Forums › General › Smashing atrophied tissue

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    • 09/25/2013 at 9:07 pm #70496
      Avatar[email protected]
      Participant

      Hi people,

      About a year ago I suffered from Brachial Neuritis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parsonage%E2%80%93Turner_syndrome) which resulted in several muscles in my left shoulder losing a lot of muscle mass and strength (infraspinatus, supraspinatus & teres minor). Since then, I’ve been working to try and strengthen those muscles back up to a functional level, and a recent nerve conduction study showed that they’re being innervated properly now and just need to strengthen.
      I’ve experimented a few times with smashing the affected tissues while trying to improve my scapular motion (left one wings out like crazy, no surprise there) and the pain is pretty intense. It doesn’t seem tingly or like burning electrical nerve pain, just so uncomfortable I feel like I’m going to pass out.
      With the disclaimer that I take absolute responsibility for my own actions, does anyone have an opinion on this situation? Should I be trying to smash these tissues? Bring in a superfriend to help me with this far-too-painful process? Or just keep laying into the areas up and downstream hoping it makes a difference?
    • 09/25/2013 at 9:27 pm #72865
      AvatarStacy Kellough
      Member

      Tatham,

      If the areas that you have nerve damage in are very painful to smash, it’s probably a good idea to stop doing it. Definitely continue to focus on areas up and downstream that may directly effect the ability to use those muscles.
      When you talk about nerve related injuries the biggest determinant to how quickly someone can get better is time. Look at Peyton Manning the last two years when he had to have neck surgery due to nerve damage on his throwing arm. He had an army of rehab staff helping him recover from the injury but it won’t change the time it takes your body to heal itself. Nerves heal very slowly so you will just have to be patient.
      I hope this helps. 
      Take care,
      Danny
      MWOD Coach
    • 09/26/2013 at 1:58 pm #72869
      Avatar[email protected]
      Participant

      Thanks Danny, good advice!

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