I had this surgery with Dr. Kibler. Supposedly my rhomboids were detached and part of my lower trap was reattached. I say supposedly because this cannot be confirmed on MRI due to the location of your rhomboids being so deep and attaching underneat the scapula. Dr. Kibler looks at the movement of your scapula to make this diagnosis. Mine was fanning out to the side when I elevated my arm.

While it corrected the movement of my scapula unfortunately this was just a symptom or damage from an underlying problem that has still not been resolved. It did not help the pain I was having at all.

With that said I do believe this surgery has a good chance to help you if you can tie the detachment to an event like the car accident you mentioned. I would do everything you can to be as sure of the diagnosis as possible. The surgery is not easy as he drills holes in your scapula and threads the muscles back to it. However TOS surgery was more painful (yes I had both).

Dr. Kibler is highly regarded and considered the guru for scapula problems. His physical therapy team is very good as well.

Feel free to send me private message if you want to know more.

Romans 8, your post mentioning Kibler was how I found this site. I don't have the ability to private message for some reason. I guess because I'm new. But I was hoping you would see this post. Thanks for taking the time to reply. I would like to know sooo much more about your experience. I'm looking to have the surgery after the New Year. Mine isn't nearly as bad as the video but it's been that way since the accident for sure. I can't lift my arm up high or throw a ball without pain. I'm hoping this will fix that? Also do you know the chances of reinjury? What was your recovery time and how did you feel? As many details as possible would be great. I know what the doctor told me, but I want to hear it from someone that's been through it. So glad you replied and btw I love the screen name. I live 4 hours away from Lexington on the other side of the state so I'm not sure if he will send me to the Orthopedic Institute here locally or require me to come back there. I'm sorry, but knowing you've had the surgery and only having this way to communicate without the ability to PM, I'm stuck posting messages this way for now I guess.

Can someone please tell me how to send a PM? I'm new here.

A few more posts and the PM as well as other features of the site will be available to new members.

Do posts on this thread count? Or is it only counted in new threads?

Hello
Yes, all your approved posts are counted in your status.
We do not discuss how many as that defeats the object of preventing spam PMs

Sorry I took so long to respond as I do not visit this site as frequently as I once did.

The recovery is not as bad as one would think when you understand the surgery. From a pain perspective the TOS first rib resection was more painful. Rehab is really the same exercises he has you do when trying to treat this problem conservatively. It's my understanding most people fully recover in 3 - 4 months.

I would think this has a great chance to help you if the detached muscles are indeed the source of your problem. The problem is there is no way to tell if that is the source because MRI cannot see the muscle structure underneath the scapula. The detached muscle diagnosis is much like TOS in that it is made more from symptoms and not from some medical test. However TOS usually comes on more gradually while the detached muscle is usually linked back to some traumatic event. This was not the case for me as my rhomboids became detached when I continued to play tennis with TOS or some nerve related problem that was not yet diagnosed.

I hope this helps.

Thanks for taking the time to answer me Romans 8. The car wreck happened in 1999. I was 20 and didn't know that I should've gone to see an ortho. My gen practicioner just put me in a sling. Years later after having kids and dealing with the frustrations that I can't throw a ball without pain, I decided to see an ortho. He just did general rehab and stretched my scapula out. They told me there wasn't a fix because the pop and grinding in my shoulder was just scar tissue that would come back. Jump forward 5 years later and the pain from just doing push-ups or a plank or anything trying to get into some shape other than round drove me to go back to the ortho. He's reputable and comes highly regarded. He send me to Kibler across the state in Lexington. This man seemed to really be the first person to ever understand and even explain in words that I've used about how it feels. Tells me about this surgery he's done over 250 times now and the wonderful life these other people have from it. Then he tells me about the rehab and it sort of scares me off from it a bit. I started wondering if it was even worth it. What if it doesn't fix it? What if it causes even more pain and issues? So I researched him and that's how I found you guys. Romans 8's post showed up in Google and he had been to this guy. Even had the same surgery. I know you can't tell me if it work, but given what I've told you above and what your experience and knowledge of the procedure is, do you think this would be my best course of action?

I do not want to in any way advise you. All I can say is it didn't resolve anything for me despite being told it worked for 99% of others. I have gotten to where I take these high percentages doctors state with a grain of salt.

With that said I would not let the rehab scare you. It's not that bad. The real question is how confident are you this is your problem? Exhaust all options to get an accurate diagnosis. Exhaust all attempts to rehab without surgery.

My only confidence tin this diagnosis really comes from the way he was able to describe exactly how it felt. He seemed to be the only person I've ever seen that understood. All other orthos chalked it up to scar tissue. And once I watched the YouTube video of his presentation and researched his credentials I felt a little more confident. But still the downtime and rehab cause me to take a step back. I'm not sure who else to turn to at this point for another opinion. Dry needling seemed to help the pain and relieve the muscle tension but gradually it came back. I think that may just be a bandaid. I'm right handed, but because of this injury my strong arm is now my left. What other avenues would you suggest? I realize you don't want to just tell me to have the surgery. And I can appreciate that. This is the only place that I know to go right now though for some help and advice outside of doctors, and they typically just want to dismiss or cut to quieten. I don't think they understand the pain or the problem because the tests they are so accustomed to using as road maps didn't show them what's wrong. Like you said, it's muscular.