Injured...again.

[JPH]

Q. "Stand comfortably against a wall.  Does the back of your head, shoulder blades, butt and heels all touch with the same pressure?"
A. My heels and butt are against the wall with equal pressure, my shoulder blades slightly less and the back of my head is off the wall."

Q. "Now, stay against the wall and raise your arms above your head as if to perform a press and lower your elbow down to shoulder level and slightly below.  Do the back of your forearms want to list forward?"
A. No

Q. "Have someone stand beside you and raise your arms above your head, feet shoulder width apart and perform a squat.  Do your arms want to lean forward?"
A. Only very slightly.

Q. "Reach over your head with one arm at a time, as if to scratch down your back.  Can you reach the same spot?  Now reach up your back, as if you couldn't reach the itch from the top.  Are both arms the same/same distance up the back?"
A. Yes, on all counts.

One last thing. When I relax my posture and look in the mirror, my head lists slightly to my right. It has been that way for years. You have to look for it but I notice it.

When I was a kid, playing football I had an 18" neck. Mind you, that was at 5'7" and 165 lbs. I used to lead with my head (back in the days before we knew how dangerous that was) and I have had somewhat regular neck and upper back pain ever since. I have always wondered if muscular imbalance and or an unnoticed injury 20 years ago might have played a part.

Again, very grateful for the help!

[drdaven]

Alrighty, now we are getting somewhere.[:D]

This is not a quick fix for the burning under your shoulder blade.  That is a strain and will take time to heal.  I would seek the help of a good massage therapist or see a Chiropractor that does ART. You can perform some dynamic stretching to help facilitate faster healing and better range of motion throughout the shoulder girdle.  You probably have some major trigger points throughout the Levator Scapulae, the Rhomboids and the upper Trap.  Have someone who knows what they are doing work on those to loosen them up and make them more resilient.

Your forward head translation is a big problem.  When we start looking at the bodies centers of gravity, we learn quite a bit.  What I have in my office is a 12 lb. bowling ball.  This represents your head.  I ask patients to hold it with arms extended for an hour.  Yes, they look at me like I have a rock loose.  (I don't really make them hold it)  Having gotten my point across, I ask them if they could hold it close to their body for an hour.  SURE... (usual response)  We then start talking about correcting their anterior to posterior weight distribution lines.

Now, the how to is easier said than done because of all the neural reflexes that our body comes with.  Statistically, the neck is the most commonly injured area of the spine.  At times, we are left with this anterior head translation.  The problem is, the body is so very adaptable.  Following the initial injury the pelvis will tip anteriorly, the mid back will become very flat and the lumbar spine will arch to far.  This is all because of neural reflexes to protect the spinal cord and keep our entire center of gravity over our feet. 
Beyond this initial adaptation, our anterior (front) connective tissue begins to shorten.  (picture Grandma)  Add in all the sitting that we do and the head forward and down position (think tree stand or desk) that life throws at us and you can begin to see what a formidable foe we are looking at.

First thing to do is work with the passive tissues.  We do this by introducing passive extension traction.  For the sake of simplicity we will use a bath towel firmly rolled up.  Place this towel under the base of your neck.  Find this by tipping your head forward and feeling for the biggest bump in the lower part of the neck.  This is C7.  Lying on your back on a firmish surface, place this towel under your neck.  You will know if the towel is big enough if the back of your head just lightly touches the floor/surface.  Work your way up to performing this for 15 minutes daily.  Think of this as braces for your spine instead of for your teeth.  You should feel some pulling pressure along the front of the neck and some pressure in the back.  If you get any arm pain or numbness, discontinue.  Word of caution.  Don't try to sit right up after doing this for 15 min.  Roll over onto your stomach and slowing arise, watching the posture in your neck.

At 5'7" I am guessing that trying to stand as tall as you can is not a problem.  (not a short joke)  Most shorter people have a tendency to eek every available inch out of their height.  So this shouldn't have to be addressed. 

I do want you to start working on stretching (passively) the anterior connective tissues.  Do this by performing a Yoga stretches.  Upward facing dog, a modified downward dog where you stay on your knees  reach out forward with arms extended over your head like the downward dog and get your chest to the floor.  Both should pull everything from the front of your knees up to your chin.

Start with these stretches and procedures for a week or two and we will add more active stuff later.

[OHhunter]

When I was a kid, playing football I had an 18" neck. Mind you, that was at 5'7" and 165 lbs. I used to lead with my head (back in the days before we knew how dangerous that was) and I have had somewhat regular neck and upper back pain ever since. I have always wondered if muscular imbalance and or an unnoticed injury 20 years ago might have played a part.

Same situation here, I had a neck injury my senior year while playing football. I got hit in the knee and upended came down on my head. I ignored the pain and the sore neck. Finally after 10 years of pain in my neck and shoulders I went to get it checked out. After several x-rays they determined a old neck injury had cause bone spurrs on the vertebrate in my neck that were pinching nerves and causing the pain in my shoulders. For about six months I went to a chiro 3 to 4 times week, he got me straightend out enough that now I only have pain if I do a repetitive motion with my shoulders and arms for long periods of time. He said I may still have to do something about the bone spurs in the future.

Just a note the guy who hit my knee trying to tackle me, well he was seeing stars after the hit. I guess my knee to the helmet was a little harder than his head. I guess he got the last laugh cause I'm still feeling it. He reminds me of that often.

[reeper0697]

ORIGINAL: JPH


The rotator cuff was the result of submission grappling with a guy who outweiged me by 50 lbs, and 10 years my junior. It was on the left.

 
What happened there!?

[JPH]

Wow drdaven, all this for free! I cant thank you enough.

I want to make sure I'm reading you right:
-Towel position?
-Upward facing dog?
-Modified downward dog?

[JPH]

OHhunter, I know you guys take your football seriously in the Buckeye State (except for the Browns). I think you would agree, IT WAS WORTH IT!

Reeper, I was rolling with one of my former fire academy recruits, who happened to be a one time collegiate wrestler and graduate of the Army combatives school. I tried to work my way out of an arm bar. I think you would agree, IT WAS NOT WORTH IT!

[fasteddie]

JPH - If you shoot a Pope & Young Record buck after taking steroids , do the put an * by your name ? [:D]..[:D]...[:D]

[JPH]

ORIGINAL: fasteddie

JPH - If you shoot a Pope & Young Record buck after taking steroids , do the put an * by your name ? [:D]..[:D]...[:D]

Haha! My legacy has been tainted!

[wack]

Shoulder problems suck. I dislocated my right shoulder in 89. I went in for arthroscopic surgery and woke up to major surgery as the Doc couldn't do it all through a scope. He basically cut off my arm, shortened up all the tendons and put it back together. I had 2 years of rehab, then laser surgery and lost 10-15% range of motion compared to 50% prior to laser surgery. The laser surgery really helped and recovery time after was much less than the 1st surgery. Thankfully I'm left handed and it's my anchor for archery.

 So that's old news, but if there is anyone more injury pron than JPH it's me. Last week Fri I woke up with the usual stiff and sore lower back. Same minor pain I've had for years, no big deal. I sat down with a cup of coffee and when I went to stand up, I had instant bad pain in my lower back. A couple hours I still could hardly stand up. I took 2 Vicodin pain killers and got a ride to the ER. The ER doc gave my meds for inflammation, a muscle relaxer and the strongest vicodin made. He took an ex ray and said there was very little space under my lowest vertebrae. I went to see my doc Monday as the pain all weekend was more than the vicodin could handle. She got me in for an MRI on Wed. . I didn't here anything Thurs. and yesterday the doc left a message on my answer machine.

 The message said that there wasn't anything too scary, but they found a lump on my last disk which explains the pain but not the pins and needle feeling I get from sitting too long. She said that a neurosurgeon would be calling me to set an appointment. At this point I should say English isn't my doctors first language. What the heck is a lump on my disk? Is it a bulging disk? a herniated disk? (i was told a herniated disk shows up as a "lump" on an MRI by a nurse) Is it a growth? a tumor? All she said was a lump and she also said the radiologist may have missed something and of course when I called back minutes later the doc was gone and the nurse knew nothing.

 So here I sit. The meds have helped a lot and the pain is still there but not bad enough to need pain killers yesterday or today. I haven't hunted now in 9 days. Wife says no hunting until I see the neurosurgeon and after that she doesn't want me hunting alone no more. I don't know anyone nearby that bow hunts, my 2 bow hunting buddies are retired now. I should be out hunting right now, but here I sit. I doubt this will go away on it's own, it would be nice to know if my bow season is over, or how long this will take to heal. Hopefully I'll get some answers Monday. Between the ER, my Doc, the MRI and the meds, I've already shelled out over $500 this week, if my back doesn't stop me from hunting, a lack of money will. What is really killing me is 10 days ago I thought I had a 10 pointer figured out on public land and am itching to get my climber in a certain tree before his pattern changes. I've put in a lot of work to find him, had him at 28 yards quartering to me at full draw. I waited for a better angle and didn't get one, he walked away never knowing how close he was to death. I doubt right now I could get to that tree with my bow and climber or even with out, a rescue would be very difficult and on my best day I'm not sure I could drag that buck out on my own or not. I'd sure like to try and I'd get him out if I had to do it one quarter at a time. lol If I don't hunt again this year, the last hunt was a good one and I'll appreciate the next hunt even more.

[drdaven]

Wack,

The MRI results probably were a disc herniation.  If you have had problems for a long period of time, it is likely due to a degenerative disc.  You probably should see the neurosurgeon.  Be prepared for him to tell you that you need surgery.  Most surgeons figure that by the time you see them, you have already tried everything else.  Sometimes the surgery works and sometimes not.  National statistics on it are not all that encouraging.  Most surgeons will tell you that they bat around 80% success.  If that were true I would have to imagine the national stats would show it, so someone isn't telling the truth. 
Latest research shows that in the long run all treatment options are about equal.  Surgery helps out the fastest, but carries the greatest risks.  We find the best results using manipulation, body balancing and improved activity.  Don't be afraid to try conservative care.  It may not work as fast but it is cheaper and less risky.

JPH,
Congrats on finding the pics.  You must have many sites bookmarked to have found those so quickly!  Given the fact that I can't even load up my own pictures of my best buck on here, you can understand why I described them for you rather than trying to post them.  Can't for the life of me figure it out. 

For you the downward facing dog needs to be a little deeper.  Get the chest to the floor.  The neck roll needs to be much bigger and placed lower.  She is just relaxing on it.  You need to do extension traction to reestablish a normal cervical curvature and reduce the anterior translation.

Good luck to all.