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Left shoulder pain, numbness/tingling/loss of strength in hand and fingers???

Currently having left shoulder pain, numbness and tingling in the hands/fingers as well as loss of strength in gripping. A little history, I broke my left thumb when 17. I started studying massage therapy in late 2001 while also serving in the military. I performed massage on soldiers that were having issues/complaints up until I left the military in 2010. In 2005 I blew out my left thumb from performing too many massage in a row. I kept on massaging but improvised so I would not have to use my left thumb. I was doing massage at a hospital in Iraq, so I kept massaging. In 2006, I won't go into details, but I was running at full speed (which was probably slow by some standards) with 70lbs worth of gear on, tripped and landed full force on my left hand to break my fall. I started practicing massage as a civilian in 2009. After a few months my left wrist started hurting all the way across, front and back. The thumb was also an issue. I have continued to practice up until a month or so ago, but had to stop due to the pain in the hand/wrist as well as my shoulder which has been giving trouble for 6 months or so. Having muscle spasms in my tricep and loss of strength in forearm while giving massages. I have had repeated massages from people I work with as well as other therapists in my area that I do trades with. I also go to Chiropractic regularly. I have had MRI's etc done thru the Veterans Hospital, but nothing has worked. The closest I have come to being pain free was from a MT in SC that did trigger point therapy and I was fairly pain free for the rest of the day but that was it.

If you have read all this, Thank you! Any advice or info would be greatly appreciated.

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Permalink Reply by Therese Schwartz on June 17, 2013 at 9:08pm

I had no idea!  Thanks!  I'll check when I have a chance; that's where I have a lot of pain in my back.  Oh - found it!!  Thanks - that will help.

Permalink Reply by Gary W Addis, LMT on June 17, 2013 at 10:12pm

It's the only tp I know of that refers pain up instead of down. There may be others ,but that the only one I know.


Therese Schwartz said:

I had no idea!  Thanks!  I'll check when I have a chance; that's where I have a lot of pain in my back.  Oh - found it!!  Thanks - that will help.

Permalink Reply by Gordon J. Wallis on June 18, 2013 at 1:51pm

Two weeks ago I had a new client that was referred to me by another massage therapist.  This women when I met her told me that she had really bad shoulder pain and is afraid that she may need surgery.. She had gone through months of physical therapy and chiropractic with no improvement what so ever.  She told me about the therapy they were doing for her, and I just shook my head.   The PT had her doing completely the opposite of what she should be doing.  And the chiropractor, adjustments and electrical stem, big deal.   I checked her out.. she couldnt abduct her arm much at all..I palpated very sore trigger points in every muscle that had to do with her shoulder and the surounding area.  I saw her for the third time the other day.. ONly one trigger point was left.. In her terres minor.  She could lift her arm over her head without pain after that session... She will need to come in maybe a couple more times just to make sure everything has healed.  When she was on her stomach and I was working on another problem in her calves, she was laying wth her hands over her head...She said she could never lay like that before because of the pain...Anyway,  like Iike I keep saying...If there is no pathology or osteo bone in the way...Its soft tissue work all the way.. Always.  Id go back to that trigger point guy that you got results from.  See him every three days...as long as improvement continiues... He would only need to work 15min. to a half hour each session. Again, talk is easy in here.  But thats my two cents based on my experience.

Permalink Reply by Gary W Addis, LMT on June 18, 2013 at 3:51pm

Good advice from an expert, Chris. 

Permalink Reply by Eliza Desmarais on July 19, 2013 at 9:46am

Which fingers are numb and tingling? Thumb and index are C5-C6, middle finger is C7. The triceps are C7-C8. You may be more affected by the C5 bulge than you think.

Permalink Reply by Gary W Addis, LMT on July 19, 2013 at 11:33am

If it were a problem in the spine, the trigger point work would not have helped even temporarily.   

Eliza Desmarais said:

Which fingers are numb and tingling? Thumb and index are C5-C6, middle finger is C7. The triceps are C7-C8. You may be more affected by the C5 bulge than you think.

Permalink Reply by Chris Reynolds on July 28, 2013 at 11:36pm

Problem solved. Thanks for every ones advice! I can't really say which massage actually worked the best, but the pain finally went away after starting a rigorous exercise routine that included an hour or so a day on elliptical machine. the exercises hurt like "Heck" when I first started, but as the Army taught me, "Suck it up and drive on!" after a week or so the pain started subsiding. Now anytime I have the least amount of pain, I go get on the elliptical for an hour, work out on the machines and the pain is gone!

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