Shoulder Muscle- affected by scoliosis??

[trcylynn]

Hello,

I am new to the forum... I am 22 and have a 25ish degree left lumbar curve. I was told to monitor it as a kid and that it would stop after puberity- well it was at 18 then and now the rotation is getting severly worse as well. I was also told that there is no pain with scoliosis but I know now that thats not true either.

My new problem is that my shoulder blade is no longer working correctly. I am in physical therapy for it to rehab the muscle that isn't working correctly/at all. I was told by the therapist that this usually only happens with an injury but I did not injure it. Has anyone had shoulder problems with only a lumbar curve? Could it affect it? I don't feel my physical therapist knows much about scoliosis and its affects but it is all I can afford until I get better health insurance. Any information anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated. Thank you! ~Tracy

[Gnarledsatire]

my shoulder area has recently been hurting, I have had a diagnosed scoliosis siunce 1997, I am 22 now, with an s shaped curve. Severe. I am scheduling a doctors appt next week, so whether it is from the scoliosis or not...for me I am not sure. But it hurts bad. I heard that the muscle can hurt from being over stretched constantly, because of the rib cage rotation.

[amae28]

maybe you have a compensary curve in your thoracic spine around your shoulder area... which shoulder is hurting? I have a right thoracic, left lumbar S-curve, and my right shoulder blade area bothers me all the time. I have not really found anything that helps with it though...

[BETall]

Hello,

I am new to the forum... I am 22 and have a 25ish degree left lumbar curve. I was told to monitor it as a kid and that it would stop after puberity- well it was at 18 then and now the rotation is getting severly worse as well. I was also told that there is no pain with scoliosis but I know now that thats not true either.

My new problem is that my shoulder blade is no longer working correctly. I am in physical therapy for it to rehab the muscle that isn't working correctly/at all. I was told by the therapist that this usually only happens with an injury but I did not injure it. Has anyone had shoulder problems with only a lumbar curve? Could it affect it? I don't feel my physical therapist knows much about scoliosis and its affects but it is all I can afford until I get better health insurance. Any information anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated. Thank you! ~Tracy

Hi Tracey :
Be in front of a mirrow : which shoulder hurts , the one that is higher or the oppossite , Left or Right , front or back ?
Stay well, BETall

[trcylynn]

The last time I had xrays was in Jan. or so of 2006. I think they focused only on my lower back though- could a curve develop in the upper back? I don't notice any changes except the increased rotation.

It is my right shoulder and it does sit higher than my left- (it never used to)- its just tense and raised all the time now.

~Tracy

[dsal]

Shoulder

I have left shoulder pain intermittently. I only have a slight thoracic curve (about 19 degrees), but my primary curve is my cervical curve. My left shoulder is higher than my right, and my left leg is "shorter"/raises up more than my right.

I'm wondering if you also have a cervical curve?
dsal

[trcylynn]

what is a cervical curve?

[dsal]

Cervical curve

It's in the neck region, the beginning of the spinal column. As far as I know, the back is referred to in three major segments: cervical, thoracic, lumbar. My main issues are cervical.

dsal

[amae28]

i guess next time you go in for an appointment if you want to get it checked you should ask for a scoliosis x-ray, which is of the entire spine. IF they only took one of your lower spine last time, they could have missed something. Don't worry too much though, it's all speculation. Besides, a compensary curve develops next to your main structural curve that isn't very flexible. A compensary curve is usually really flexible. My curves are opposite yours though, structural in thoracic, and compensary in the lumbar.

[trcylynn]

I'll do that- have my whole back x-rayed.

I had another PT appointment for the shoulder today. They had to tape my shoulder blade in place just to do a few exercises. Some of the exercises I could not even do with it taped. It's like my shoulder blade gives out on the muscles/pops.

The PT said usually it is caused by an injury but that a nerve might be pinched. How long should I wait to find out if PT helps or not until I go get a nerve test done to see if something is causing my shoulder blade/muscles to act this way?

[goldnyght]

I've been having a tenseness between my neck and right shoulder that snaps and hurts like popping my back. I think it might be related.

Have you noticed yourself leaning on that side at all? Or perhaps playing any raquet sports? Both of those scenarios can cause the muscles to be stiff and painful for a little while after the activity

[adelonty]

Hi,
I got diagnosed when i was 14 with a thorocic curve, i'm now 26. It causes me constant pain. In the last 2 years my shoulder has started to cause me pain. Its got progressively worse and i was sent for an MRI scan. Turns out the shape of my spine has weakened my shoulder muscle causing it to tear. i've had steroid injections but they don't seem to do much.
I think that i should have acted upon the pain when it first started, it might have stopped the problem getting worse.
Keep going to physio and keep up gentle exercise.

[Kristin7581]

Shoulders Hurting!!!!!!!!!

So i find myself back here looking for answers that the doctors dont have! I myself had surgery when i was 15 and am now 26. I recently went to my new ortho since i no longer am by the one who did my surgery.....so i explain to him about my shoulder blades...yes BOTH of them...and he says well we can do the steriod injections. Why does this seem to be the answer for everyone. everyone that ive talked to that has had these says it dosent make it any better! Why waste my money since i dont have insurance! So im to the point now that I can't even walk a long distance withough my shoulders throbbing and i dont have to even be carrying a purse! Has anyone found anything that works? Im soooo tired of being in pain all of the time!!!!!!!!!!

[dsal]

Shoulder pain

Sorry to hear about everyone's pain. Kristin, steroid injections are kind of a stop-gap thing. It was explained to me this way: it jump-starts the anti-inflammatory process. Hopefully your body will then kick into gear, become less inflamed, and then maybe your cycle of pain will be broken. Of course the steroids won't fix your scoliosis, but sometimes the pain just gets carried away. I don't think I'm explaining this very well, but I'd suggest that you call a pharmacist, schedule an app't to have some pharmacy counseling, and he/she will explain the way the steroids work in your body. (I think pharmacists will take more time to explain this stuff than a physician will.)

I'm 47 and I've occasionally had steroid injections for other reasons. And they DID help me! But of course they didn't eliminate the underlying problem. It's similar to taking a pain killer--helps with the pain, but doesn't heal you.

Did your ortho explain specifically why he thinks your shoulders are causing your pain?

As far as the non-insurance thing goes, perhaps you can mention this to your dr. Maybe he will allow you some kind of payment plan.

My Scoliosis is probably not as severe as yours. But I'm feeling about 90% better than I was a couple months ago! NO JOKE! I'm attributing it to doing Elise Brown-Miller's _Yoga for Scoliosis. If you're thinking of getting this, I'd recommend that you obtain your physican's permission to exercise. If he gives you the ok, I'd recommend getting the book and the dvd. If you can only afford one, then I'd recommend the dvd. I totally hate exercise, but I must admit that this has done wonders for me. Prior to practicing the yoga, I was getting ready to consult with some of the SpineCor brace drs. to be fitted with that brace--not for correction, but for aligning my spine to help with my pain. But doing the yoga has helped so much, that I'm putting the brace idea on hold. If I continue to do well with the yoga, then no sense getting the brace!!

This yoga has helped my back--my SHOULDERS!!--not to mention other aches and pains. (I only have the first yoga dvd she put out. But if I become more proficient at performing the yoga exercises on my current dvd, then I plan to reward myself with the Fiji dvd.)

A warning/encouragement: If your doctor allows you to do the Yoga for Scoliosis exercises and you get the dvd, please be gentle on yourself. Do not reach as far as Elise does, or pull your leg up as high or whatever. Once it becomes a little painful, do not force it. It can get discouraging when she says, "Lower your leg to 60 degrees," and your leg never even made it up to 60 degrees! lol. But that's ok! Don't beat yourself up, and soon you will increase your strength and flexibility at your own rate. Another encouragement: I did not notice any results or lessening of pain until after I did at least 3 weeks of the yoga. (One "week" of yoga for me would be doing all exercises on the dvd each day, M-F.) Maybe others get faster results, but it took awhile for me.

I'm not associated with Elise Miller in any way; just a happy dvd customer!

HTH,
dsal

[amae28]

I had steroid injections and they really didn't help. The first one I got the dr. punctured my lung too... and I got a pneumothorax which was aweful! So if you do decide to try it make sure your dr. does it under floroscopy because our anatomy is altered (aka. our lungs are in weird positions sometimes because of the rotation). So just be careful... it was a bad experience...
Abbie