the rum soaked fist: internal martial arts forum

Anyone have any experiance with Rehabing Long Thoracic Nerve damage?

A few months ago now I squashed and partially prolapsed a cervical disc while grappling. I fixed the immediate problem relatively quickly with soft work and inversion. However, my right scapula is winging where normally it would be very flat to my back. It isnt as pronounced as it might be for some as i have done alot of tissue development, but is noticable and my Pec Major and minor on that side is habitually tense.

Doc says it is likely damage to the the long thoracic nerve causing disfunction in the Serratus Anterior and Romboids. It isnt a strength issue, but a 'signal' issue apparantly.

Any of you therapists have any suggestions? The only things i can find are very light weight work to retrain the activation etc.

Thanks in advance.

I remember that I-mon had some scapular issues a few years ago and started a thread about related exercises. I found this related thread, but it's not the one I remember.

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=25584&p=434089&hilit=scapula+exercise&sid=889d7d4ce9acae191126125614ac019a#p434089

cool thank you. I already do some of those, thanks for the reminder.

I had suffered a prolapsed lumbar disc early this year (yes, also grappling - in my case after ignoring some warning signs and spontaneously doing a session on a hard wooden floor, so pretty dumb of me...). Apart from the pain in the sciatic nerve, which in some phases was truly grim, I've also had problems with incoming and outgoing signals through the nerve. Numbness, fuzziness in the foot and some muscles not fully 'obeying'. After an up and down ride things are now much better and still improving but still not 100% and several specialists have told me independently of each other that full regeneration of the nerve can easily take up to a year, if not even longer . Or possibly even 'never', but I'm optimistic that it won't be that bad.
As long as there is still some 'grit in the system', there seems to be a fairly high risk of it happening again if one isn't careful about boundaries, i.e.trying to do too much too quickly. That happened to me a few months later and the second time was even worse, so I'm having to play the long game now. A bit frustrating sometimes but I really don't want to experience the acute phase again....!!!!

Cheers

Man that sounds really shitty. Mine is nothing like that level. Initially was super bad but healed pretty fast. now i am just left with morning pain and this annoying thing with my scapula. Hopefully it will heel up with training and time. Hope you feel better soon.

Feldenkrais ATM. Don't be too specific about finding "shoulder" lessons, just do whatever comes up.

There is direct benefit from the mindful movement aspect of things, and also some benefit from getting into your parasympathetic nervous system while dealing with the area (directly or indirectly) that may help get out of the pain/protection cycle and allow that signal to reconnect, as it were.

There's free stuff on youtube and online. If you have trouble finding something you like, let me know and I'll post links to some of the ones I like.

If you want to be a grappler become friends with damage it comes with the territory

If you are asking what is a "do it yourself" fix for an injury that has resulted in scapular winging then my advice is not to focus on what you yourself might be able to do but to seek help from a therapist of some sort - a good therapeutic massage therapist, physical therapist, or (better) a well experienced osteopath. Scapular winging is not always due to long thoracic nerve damage. It may be direct injury to the serratus anterior, the rhomboids, or the muscles surrounding the brachial plexus.

If you want to be a grappler become friends with damage it comes with the territory

Very useful... i am a grappler ... And i know.

Thanks doctor Fish.
I had seen a well regarded osteo and massage therapist after the initial injury many months ago(at quite a cost). The diagnosis of the ltn injury is after standard testing by my doctor. The damage is not severe, but i wasnt sure what an osteo appointment or massage therapist could achieve for this type of problem. Maybe i will go back on your recommendation.

Thanks for the help

Feldenkrais ATM. Don't be too specific about finding "shoulder" lessons, just do whatever comes up.

There is direct benefit from the mindful movement aspect of things, and also some benefit from getting into your parasympathetic nervous system while dealing with the area (directly or indirectly) that may help get out of the pain/protection cycle and allow that signal to reconnect, as it were.

There's free stuff on youtube and online. If you have trouble finding something you like, let me know and I'll post links to some of the ones I like.

Brilliant thank you. I will take a look around