Not that anyone really cares, but some of you know that I have been suffering from an incredible amount of back (upper back, shouler area) pain over the years.... Well, today I saw some crazy Russian specialist and they finally know what's wrong with me so that they can fix it! It's a huge weight off my back and I'm so happy to know that something CAN be done! I just had to share. If you don't care, click "back" and read elsewhere.


For the past 15+ years Ive suffered from a really painful back ailment that has caused me a great deal of pain and many nights without sleep. Today I saw one of Kaiser's best back/shoulder specialists, and only today did I find out exactly what was wrong with my back/shoulder that was causing this much pain for me every day.

Apparently it's all due to my right collar bone which I broke when I was around 15 years old. The bone broke in a really nasty way and the way it healed was wrong so my right shoulder is slightly lower than my right one due to an exaggerated pose Ive held for years in order to avoid the pain that my back would be in. I stopped using the muscles that I was supposed to use since I was compensating for the pain and would exaggerate my posture in order to not feel the pain and eventually my bones grew to accommodate the new angle of the collar bone with my shoulder... So my whole shoulder had to compensate for my collarbone and that's why my right upper back hurts so much... Turns out my right scapula is involuntarily moving inwards and out and in doing so it's irritating the muscle between my middle/center back and scalpula and thus the pain.

Now that we actually know what the problem is means that they know what needs to be done to fix it. Some good news and bad news:

GOOD NEWS: I can do physical therapy to strengthen the muscles that I avoid using because of the pain, and by doing that the pain SHOULD reduce drastically.


BAD NEWS: The above physical therapy will take A LOT of work and A LOT of time, so the only thing I can do to actually fix it is to have the doctors re-break my collar bone and well as part of my shoulder. I would then have to be in a half-body cast with arm in a cast that is propped upwards so that my arm is straight outwards to the side with my arm out but bent at the elbow so it would look like a chicken wing (The cast would be on for months!!!). That's the treatment I'd need to regrow the bone so that my shoulder isn't in such a position and to grow back normally so I no longer compensate and cause pain. That sounds like A LOT of bad times so I think I'm going to stick with the physical therapy for now and see how it works out. The surgery is something I really need to think about, *sigh*


Wish me luck, this is uncharted territory! I'm so excited about the prospect of being pain-free!!! I'm on cloud f'ing 9!!!

 

Good to hear! I to suffer from some serious back issues, but it's from constant abuse from snowboarding and other stupid crazy things I do. I may need to find a good Russian as well since it gives me trouble with sleep and sitting in class and sometimes even standing.

Too bad you probably couldn't drive with the cast on.

 

I too suffer from long term ramification of a broken collar bone from 30 years ago, great to hear you got to the bottom of it and have a plan to get better!

And seriously hope you can find a comfort zone without needing to re-break it, that was discussed when I had shoulder surgery last year and while he said it could be done, my ortho didn't think it would be worth the grief.

 

good luck bud! I know back problems can seriously F up your whole life

 

you could always do yoga. Worked wonders for my spine.

 

Word, I took semesters at the local community college and it definitely made a huge difference and made me feel great. The girls in there are a nice bonus to. 10:1 girl to guy ratio.

 

Good idea for long term maintenance for sure, probably won't help as much as PT for getting the initial stuff sorted but once PT has done it's thing- Yoga can help a lot with keeping the rest of you in balance.

I've also become a big fan of inversion therapy for spinal health.

 

Best of luck, man - I really hope you can get this turned around. The chronic pain you deal with takes its toll everywhere, and I know how much it takes out of you. Keep fighting!

 

Pfffft.

I thought this was going to be a thread about erections.

 

Man, I feel like there's hope for once... It's a great feeling. Thanks for all the support everyone!

 

I had a couple of friends who swore by this place to stop back pain.
http://www.balancecenter.com/
Maybe worth looking at in addition to the PT

 

Best of luck in PT!

 

Glad to hear that the problem has been pretty much pin-pointed. Despite all the hard work I`m sure you`ll prevail. Now kick some ***.

 

if u need chiropractic help or massage therapist let me know, i can help... will it count if i say im Ukrainian? and im really glad u found what was the problem best of luck!

 

I bent my collarbone once playing football, landed on it horribly trying to be Jerry Rice.

It took a year for my collarbone/shoulder to stop hurting, but what did help it was indeed making the muscles stronger and more flexible.