Nerve Shoulder Injury/No Right Pec Activation

I’ve been suffering from a apparent nerve entrapment shoulder/Scapula region injury for over a year now. I suffered this injury while playing tournament golf walking and carrying a heavy golf bag over my right shoulder and suddenly I woke up with excruciating sharp pain from the inside base of my right scapula up over my trapezius and into my neck that

My nerve entrapment issue in my neck/back/scapula has caused a continuous loss of strength in my right side (dominant side). Ive been unable to contract my right pec through training no matter the exercise, weight, Reps, rest. Atrophy is clearly present in my right pec as well as my right rhomboid and trap and surrounding scapula areas as a result and I have a significant loss of pressing and pulling strength on my right side. I experience continuous pain along the thoracic nerve sometimes more severe but always present and a constant sense of structural weakness around my right scapula.

I’ve visited multiple chiropractors one of which had no knowledge on how to treat the problem but we tried electro shock to the pectoral muscle and massage but after those visits solved nothing my family doctor referred me to a neurologist. Following neurologist ordered MRI I was told that I have a winged scapula as a result of the nerve entrapment issue but said surgery could do more harm then good and did not recommend it being worth the risk.

I then reached out to a second chiropractor specializing in Active Release Technique and have participated in acupuncture and massage on nearly 10 occasions now without any positive change in function, strength or pain reduction.

Fitness and athletics is a huge part of my life and this injury has been impeding my performance for quite some time.

Has anyone experienced this type of injury before and managed to find a solution? I’m looking into ultra sound guided nerve hydrodissection at this point as I feel it may be my only option to avoid total atrophy of the right pectoral and back.

Thank you

I don’t know about the nerve issue, but I’ve delt with an unstable shoulder and muscles that feel like they don’t work before. Researching shoulder problems, I’ve seen that they’re often caused by injury to the Long Thoracic Nerve.

For me, my shoulder was unstable because I wasn’t contracting the “deep” muscles around the scapula that support the shoulder so the rhomboids/traps/pec can work properly. Here’s a discussion about contracting the serratus to get shoulder position correct.

Have you tried “stretching” or “traction” to open things up and try to release the trapped nerve? Something easy like this works well for me.
resistance-band-stretch

What about “releasing” or “rolling” the muscles around your shoulder blade that may be tight and restricted?

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I’ve tried rolling and stretching however not religiously enough. I’m going to take your advice and do both prior to each workout from now on and follow up with you in a few weeks to let you know if I experience improvement. Thank you so much for the suggest I really appreciate it.

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