Brachial Plexus Entrapment

[Jeep]

I have seen a client a couple of times who has numbness in the lateral 3 fingers. His chiro mentioned brachial plexus, but not CTS or TOS. The client got significant relief from his first massage with me. His rhomboids are "tight" (overstretched). He said his doctor showed him a picture of a nerve coming out of the neck, from the back, and those muscles were pushing on it. I was thinking c6, c7, first rib, scalenes, pecs, axilla, elbow, etc. I was not thinking rhomboids. Any comments?

 

[Hello K]

yeah, I agree... the only thing I can think of is that his rhomboids are so overstretched that they are not strong enough to hold the body in the correct alignment.  From what I get out of his symptoms it sounds as if he has thoracic outlet syndrome or a pseudo TOS from tight muscles.  I would also work on the upper traps which can also cause TP's to form.  Also show him how to strech out his pec muscles along with your massage to balance the body, because they can also cause impingement.  I honestly have never heard of rhomboids impinging the brachial plexus!  I would continue with your work and give him a better illustration of where the nerves actually come out of the plexus and what muscles are innervated by what nerves.

 

[Lily]

Brachial Plexus Entrapment

In this order release thePecsscalene attatchments on the first ribUnwind the SCM and scalenes with broad strokes then do them again with invididual fiber strokesboth sides of the neckLay client on the side and release traps and levator and everything between the dorsal and tranverse processes of the cervicals.Then the nuchal ligament pronerhomboids now can be taken out of spasm if not already out. Check palatine suture for jamming, as it relates with c-7

 

[HouAnswerGuy]

Brachial Plexus Entrapment

Thank you both for responding. I showed him a picture. He still thinks the doctor said his rhomboids are impinging his brachial plexus. He can feel tingling in his index finger when I work in that area. Yes, his head is way ahead of his shoulders.gregspin, although I addressed everything you named except the last (will be doing research tomorrow on that), I did not do it in that order. Thanks for the spin on that. I'll try it. Would you be able to tell me if it IS possible that the rhomboids (or middle traps) are indirectly impinging?

 

[Thomas W]

Brachial Plexus Entrapment

No way the rhomboids could be impinging on the brachial plexis.Don't forget to check subscapularis...my husband has thorasic outlet syndrome and his subscap is a major contributor.

 

[Mid]

Brachial Plexus Entrapment

I did. His subscap is ridiculously tight.More info: c6,c7 bulging discs

 

[dmg1969]

Strange that this should come up today.  A client was in yesterday who had a trigger point, roughly mid rhomboids (major), maybe a little closer to scap than vt's,  that referred into his 5th digit.  It worked out somewhat with some trigger point work.  I'll know more next week when he's back in.I also don't see though, how rhombiods could cause brachial plexus entrapments.  Rhomboids are more likely to be a symptom.

 

[katia n]

Brachial Plexus Entrapment

Well, although I still don't understand the "pushing on my rhomboids makes my index finger tingle", I do know that the Serratus Posterior Superior TrP (same place as-but deeper than- the rhomboids) refer to the pinky.

 

[rivi]

Thanks for your posts.I did switch to supine first.Update: Client now has lateral flexion and rotation. Only a little finger abnormality left. Still needs a lot of pillowing. According to the client, due to significant improvement, chiro suggested client may want to cancel appt. with the surgeon!