Something happens to the muscles in my right shoulder, and my whole right arm becomes useless. The strength in it drops by at least a third - which means I can’t lift things, move things, etc. Typing takes a lot out of me and hurts. There’s follow-on effects to this that I won’t type out because it is depressing to dwell on it. #
This has been the last of the fibromyalgia symptoms that I’ve been dealing with for over a decade. We did nerve conduction tests and ruled out Carpel Tunnel? The doctor at recoup physiotherapy diagnosed me with thoracic outlet syndrome but tests that Dr Manjesh showed that that was a scam. My current hypothesis is that something is going out of whack in the muscles in my [general shoulder area] that causes the whole kinetic chain of rest and motion in my arm to seize. #
When I get like this, there are several solutions I have been using. I’m listing them in order of effectiveness. #
Someone with magic fingers releases the tension built up in my neck, shoulders, and pecs. This gives me about 3 or so hours with mostly no symptoms back. #
I exercise regularly and correctly, so the tension doesn’t build up in the first place. Not always possible to do because other fatigue factors are involved. #
I use a tennis ball to press out knots in the general area of my shoulder/back. Since most of the tension is *above* my shoulder and in the sides of my neck, it is never possible to get this completely. #
Targeted exercises for neck, back, shoulders. Targeted to *what*, though? #
Sahiti was kind enough to spend about an hour helping me understand the motions and debug this with me. #
Simple up-down isometrics, or IYTW isometrics against the wall several times, is enough to relax the set of muscles. Make sure your ribcage is flush against the wall. It shouldn’t flare. If it does, the exercise won’t be able to do its job.
When you do the isometric correctly, you’re forced to put down your shoulders and work your mid-back. This will untense your infraspinatus and move more effort into the mid back. #
Stand with both your feet on the ground. Be heavy, send all your energy into the ground. Feel like your feet are large boulders damaging the ground. The energy you are sending into the ground should also flow up through your torso and head (newton’s third law, remember?). This is the way you should feel when you’re doing tango, so you will likely make all the mistakes you make there, here as well. Harness the energy from the ground. Don’t disconnect your top half from your bottom half. When you feel centered, and you can feel the energy thrumming in your back, lift your hands up through the sides with an exhale. You can keep them up or join them if you like (I join them). Continue to feel the energy from your weight on the ground traveling up your back. With every further exhale, elongate your spine so that you are reaching up. Your shoulders should be more relaxed now, but if they aren’t - let them. Let your shoulders drop and feel the energy that was moving through you move around your sides instead. #
I am unable to isolate and tense my midback. This probably that means my midback isn’t doing as much work as it should be.
Shoulders should be chopping, not wrists. Similarly, your midback should be moving your arms, not your shoulder alone. I tried and failed at using standing pull down rows to isolate the midback. IYTW Isometrics while in the lying down superman position does the trick.
Form notes: If you use your pecs to pull yourself up and back when you’re lifting yourself, your shoulders will find it easier to drop and your midback can take on more of the work. #
This set of exercises lends itself well to the longer term work of identifying and strengthening your mid back so that your infraspinatus doesn’t get overworked and lead to this situation in the first place. #