Deep pain in the left medial/superior angle of the scapula with pain intermittently to the inside left elbow.


Deep pain in the left medial/superior angle of the scapula with pain intermittently to the inside left elbow could be a neck or shoulder problem.


Eighteen months ago I was getting out of a boat and holding on to the rails. My feet slipped and something wiggled in my left shoulder. It didn't hurt until a week later, localized in the medial/superior angle of the scapula.

Hurts to move my left arm above the shoulder with pain felt along the upper back and lower inside of the left arm. Worst pain is putting my left hand behind my head and laying back.

I have had massage, injections into the most painful area, NSAIDS and used heat. Some treatments have helped, but the pain keeps coming back. How to get the shoulder/upper back healed once in for all is my question? Thank you.

It sounds like a shoulder condition, but to be sure, do no movements of the neck provoke the pain? Using the search function, do the upper limb tension test; is right and left significantly different? That radiation to the inner arm follows the T1 dermatome; it could be myofascial, but from the cervico-thoracic junction is also a consideration.

Is it the laying back, or putting your hand behind your head that really provokes it?

With your left elbow against your side, at 90*, grasp your left wrist with your right hand; pull outwards and push inwards with your left arm. Do you get shoulder pain?

With your left hand behind your head, use your right thumb to prod deep in the axilla; very painful? This is where the subscapularis muscle is located.

Has anyone tentatively made a diagnosis? Have you seen a chiropractor?

Dr B


» » Deep pain in the left medial/superior angle of the scapula with pain intermittently to the inside left elbow.



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