Neck pain that shoots to the shoulder

Have you ever had a pain that starts in your neck but also shoots down to your shoulder, and sometimes even down into your arm or hand?  It could be a number of things including Cervical Spine radiculopathy or thoracic outlet syndrome.

Basically what happens is that the nerves exit from the spinal cord to the side of your neck also pass through behind the collar bone and down to the shoulder and down the arm.  There are spaces in your body for those nerves to bend and stretch as you move your head and shoulder.  However sometimes that space can get closed up.  This happens because of old injuries, poor posture and various other reasons.  The space will be narrowed to the point where it impedes on the space of the nerves and it starts irritating them.  Next what follows is pins and needles, tingling, numbness, pain and sometimes even weakness of your arm.

So....what do we do about this?

Well the goal is to open up the space available to the nerves so they can move un-impeded by the bones and soft tissues of the body.  We can accomplish that in several different ways.  Here are some examples.
Videos

• Active Release Technique to the neck and arm musculature

Exercises
Thoracic Spine Foam Rolling

• Bent over reach-backs

If you are in neck or shoulder pain and are in Boca Raton, FL please call us at 561.997.8898 or visit me at www.Mobility-4Life.com

Staying in Shape While Injured

Maintaining you physique and fitness levels while injured can be a tricky thing to do.  I always recommend substituting non-painful exercises for the ones you know bother you, or you just don't do so well.

Here's an article to check out regarding how exactly to do that.  http://www.backtothebox.com/how-do-i-fit-my-prehab-or-rehab-into-my-physical-performance-program-4/  

This is a bit 'Crossfit-oriented' but his template can be utilized in any exercise program you choose.  Happy reading!  

If you have any questions please contact me at drscotthoar@gmail.com.  To check out more visit www.Mobility-4Life.com

Your Shoulder and Surgery

Hope this isn't too gross for you guys!

 Shoulder surgery is very common these days.  Typically it's repairing a torn rotator cuff or an arthroscope for degeneration.  Typically after you have surgery, your orthopedic doctor recommends you complete a rehab progression with a physical therapist.  I agree with that.  But what happens after that?  (This approach really applies for surgeries throughout the body, not just the shoulder)

After about 5-6 weeks, broken bones have stabilized.  After about 2 months, most soft tissues will have stabilized. (Nerves can take much longer but you're dealing with a neurosurgeon at this point so that's a different conversation).  What do I mean by 'stabilized'?  I mean you should be free to put weight on the area, to start exercising the area and so on.  Normally your physical therapist is in charge of that and will do a fantastic job for you.  My advice?  Go to physical therapy!!!

But now you've done your course of 3-6 weeks of physical therapy.  They're released you from care, but the area just isn't the same.  And you wonder what to do?  The answer?

A soft tissue chiropractor!  I'd highly recommend one that performs Active Release Technique (A.R.T.), Graston Technique, and utilizes corrective exercises and Rehab.  Surgery and other serious injuries leave you with scar tissue, which can be viewed as a rubber band (muscles) that suddenly feels like a piece of leather (scar tissue).  The techniques described above help to restore the scar tissue to it's normally quality.  When the tissue quality normalizes, the alignment of the shoulder (or wherever else in the body) is able to return to normal and you can start using your shoulder again.

In the mean time?  Wall Walking is always great for range of motion at home.  Here's a video with a pretty lengthy description if you have four minutes:

If you have any questions feel free to call my office in Boca Raton, FL at 561.997.8898 or email me directly at drscotthoar@gmail.com.  To check out more visit www.Mobility-4Life.com

Rules for Returning to Activity after an Injury

My last two posts have been regarding my experimentation with the Carb Back loading diet.  I intended to continue the updates but last week I sprained a ligament in my back, leaving me unable to workout in the manner that is appropriate for Carb Back loading.  So I thought I'd take a week off from Carb back loading and instead write today about what I'm currently dealing with: returning to activity.  So many of us get injured and have questions and concerns about how we should approach ramping up our activity levels to pre-injury levels.  So I thought I'd make some general rules to follow.  Trainers, i'd suggesting posting this on your gym wall so your client have some future reference.

Rules to Return to Activity After Injury

Rule #1 - Get yourself checked out by a sports medicine professional.  This is their expertise, you don't want to end up hurting yourself further or again.  This will significantly speed up the process.

Rule #2 - If you feel pain, don't do it.  Don't even do a movement in which you even 'feel' the affected area, without  pain.  I think you know what I'm talking about.  When you exercise in pain, you will automatically compensate.  Why is that a bad thing?  I'll explain later.

Rule #3 - Start with non-weight bearing, non-painful exercises.  This might include rowing, or swimming, or cycling, or elliptical.  Getting some serious blood flow to a recently injured area can do great things as far as speeding up this whole process.

Rule #4 - Next step, body weight exercises.  This could include push ups, or air squats, lunges, pull ups, etc.  Make sure you're doing full range of motion.  Don't move on to the next step until you have full range of motion.

Rule #5 - Don't add weight until you perform the most provocative movement (if it hurts to squat, squatting would be the provocative movement) with just bodyweight, pain-free without any asymmetries of any kind.  Ask your local trainer or a gym friend that you know has a great deal of knowledge of exercise and technique.  Have them evaluate your movement from all angles.

Rule #6 - Work the opposite extremity - If the injury is to your right foot, workout the left foot while you're recovering.  This works for the upper extremity as well.  Studies show that the more this is done, the less atrophy and muscle wasting occur of the injury extremity.

Rule #7 - DON'T COMPENSATE!!!!! - This is the biggest one.  It should be number one.  "I can run if I just step towards the outside of my foot" or "I have to extend one arm before the other".  This is huge.  When you compensate you rapidly start wearing down other parts of your body.  Don't do it.  That's why you want a trainer to make sure that your exercise movement is completely symmetrical.

Rule #8 - Perform other exercise/activity.  This is a great time to do some kind of cross training.  Performing exercises you wouldn't normally perform (as long as they are completely pain and compensation free) is a great way to workout and diversify your program.  I.e. if it hurts to swim, then jog...or if it hurts to do cleans, do snatches.

Rule #9 - Don't wear braces.  Sometimes they are necessary in the short term.  However, braces create stability for joints which is good for acute injuries, however it creates 2 things that we don't want.  #1- dependence on the brace.  Since it's creating stability in that joint, your muscles don't have to stabilize and the stronger you get, the more dependent you will become leaving the door open to future injury.  #2 - Braces limit your flexibility in that joint which, in the long term, will create more compensation in surrounding body parts.

I hope this is helpful.  For anyone wanting to know if they are ready to return to exercise, please call my office at 561.997.8898 or email me at drscotthoar@gmail.com.

To check out more visit www.Mobility-4Life.com