[Hiker]

When I bring my shoulders back I feel a *painful* stretch in the armpit.
I thought I was stretching one of the muscles, but if I reach there, I feel the bundle of nerves tightening, not the muscle.
Same thing happens if I try to do a doorframe stretch (which leaves me with numb fingers).
If I stretch a bit more, the pain radiates up to the top of my scapula.

Asked my wife to do the same and she has a stretch in the bicep muscle as I would expect.
Is this a pec minor syndrome or a TOS symptom?

[Jomar]

Some amount of pec minor sx is usually involved with TOS, it may or may not need surgical interventions unless therapy and posture work can't resolve or reduce it to a manageable level..
Also lymph nodes in arm pit can get clogged at times.

maybe you need to use less active treatment first- then increase as tolerated..
like this foam roll or rolled towels passive position - may times a day -
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/al...pictureid=5400

Or

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/al...pictureid=5399

If those increase pain/sx then just lay on floor flat w/ knees up and arms out as tolerated and focus on relax and deep diaphragm breathing. many times a day also..

Did you find the sites & charts on the TRP sticky thread showing trigger points and referred pain. a tennis ball on floor /wall works well if a spouse or friend isn't around to help.

[Hiker]

Thanks Jo*mar.
I cannot do foam roll either - my arms go numb.
Even the corpse pose gives me pain in the shoulder.

Does this mean I need to release the pec minor first before trying to stretch?

[nukenurse]

I get pain in the armpit too --- always did. It did not improve after my pec minor surgery with Dr Sanders. My armpit pain comes from my TOS. When my TOS gets flared up, my armpit pain develops. After my TOS surgery, I was able to release the muscles near the armpit, serratus anterior, teres major/minor, triceps, lat. Once I released those muscles, my armpit pain greatly improved. I rarely have it on the left side anymore and if I get it, I go back to releasing those muscles and it does the trick for me.

[16rhonda]

Originally Posted by nukenurse

I get pain in the armpit too --- always did. It did not improve after my pec minor surgery with Dr Sanders. My armpit pain comes from my TOS. When my TOS gets flared up, my armpit pain develops. After my TOS surgery, I was able to release the muscles near the armpit, serratus anterior, teres major/minor, triceps, lat. Once I released those muscles, my armpit pain greatly improved. I rarely have it on the left side anymore and if I get it, I go back to releasing those muscles and it does the trick for me.

Just wondering how u released the muscles in the armpit? I'm having severe outside armpit, scapula, & bicep pain. Doorway stretches dont help. I had tos surgery and now my Dr wants to do Pec minor surgery.
Thanks
Rhonda

[nukenurse]

Hi Rhonda,
Doorway stretches and stretches in general don't help me either --- in fact they can cause flare-ups sometimes. I firmly press my finger in an area underneath my armpit (not in the armpit, but under it where the ribs and serratus anterior are). This may hurt pretty bad if the area is sore (it does for me when I'm flared up). While you are keeping pressure on the spot, begin to raise your arm up and bring it passed shoulder level -- and then stretch the arm with a doorway stretch or whatever. It only works for me if I pin that area and then do the stretch --- starting with the arm down and raising it up. That is the basics. I found a lot of different areas to pin and different ways to stretch/move the arm once pinned. The different combinations of pinning and stretching have released many muscles for me and greatly improved my function. It works very well on my surgery side. I am not sure it would relax the scalenes and drop the first rib for people who haven't had surgery.
I wish I had a video to show you --- I think it would be so much easier to explain and I could show you the spots that have worked for me. Be careful not to go directly in the armpit --- there are nerves in there and they can get irritated.

[16rhonda]

[B]
Do. U mean near the outside edge of scapula? Do u use your thumb or 2 fingers?
Ive heard of something called Theracane, its hard with round knobs for trigger points. Ive been having severe pain inside scapula, mid -to upperback area for 3 wks constant and getting worse. Feels like I pulled something. Do u know if this could be sx of Pec minor?
Thanks for info.
Rhonda

/B]

Originally Posted by nukenurse

Hi Rhonda,
Doorway stretches and stretches in general don't help me either --- in fact they can cause flare-ups sometimes. I firmly press my finger in an area underneath my armpit (not in the armpit, but under it where the ribs and serratus anterior are). This may hurt pretty bad if the area is sore (it does for me when I'm flared up). While you are keeping pressure on the spot, begin to raise your arm up and bring it passed shoulder level -- and then stretch the arm with a doorway stretch or whatever. It only works for me if I pin that area and then do the stretch --- starting with the arm down and raising it up. That is the basics. I found a lot of different areas to pin and different ways to stretch/move the arm once pinned. The different combinations of pinning and stretching have released many muscles for me and greatly improved my function. It works very well on my surgery side. I am not sure it would relax the scalenes and drop the first rib for people who haven't had surgery.
I wish I had a video to show you --- I think it would be so much easier to explain and I could show you the spots that have worked for me. Be careful not to go directly in the armpit --- there are nerves in there and they can get irritated.

[Jomar]

Maybe some of these videos will be helpful-

Pin and Stretch for Pec Minor - YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6-XUB0ABWc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNGwIZDE-NI

[Hiker]

Pin and stretch technique seems really interesting as I can actually do it without pain in the armpit (like with doorframe stretches).

I came up with a similar idea a few days ago, but haven't yet found a good way to do it myself. I can pin the muscle with my other hand, but doing that activates pec minor on the other side which probably negates the effect.
Tennis ball against the wall seems to have similar effect.

[nukenurse]

Also, be careful not to press directly on a nerve.