I’m sorry, vdm. I wrote in haste. I don’t clamp my scaps into depression. It helps me to visualize that they are more in a depressed position than elevated because I tend to “shrug” my shoulders when I’m typing, hiking, working intensely on something. I had a victory today. I went on a 9.5 mi hike w/ a hard 2 mi. uphill climb. In the past, that climb would have sent my left shoulder into spasms, but after having a minimally invasive surgery 1.5 weeks ago on that shoulder to get rid of a calcified area on my supraspinatus tendon, I had no pain today. It was TOTALLY AWESOME!! When I hike, I generally wear a hydration vest which has wide shoulder coverings so there is no real pressure point on my shoulders. On an extra long hike (15-20 mi), I do wear a backpack that can carry several liters of water/electrolyte. It’s the weight of the fluid that bears down on my shoulders even w/ padded straps. Guess that should encourage me to stay hydrated as I hike to reduce the weight. . I have one of those coming up on 1/11. I’ll be interested to see how my shoulder feels using the backpack.
Thank you for the video. I’ll watch it but maybe piecemeal.
Let me know what you guys think of this article. It’s from a prolo place, but still may be informative if you are not into prolo. Personally, I want prolo as soon as I get my styloid removed.
It’s funny you posted this one as I watched it just two days ago.
My non-medical opinion about this person’s explanation and causation->result diagrams: it totally makes sense.
BUT. There are many hypermobile people around the world, and some of them even make amazing life-long careers of that (ballet dancers, circus artists etc.)
The question is if the flexibility is a gift, or curse, and the treatment should be to put and keep the whole body in balance (before it’s too late, of course), or stiffen the parts that are taking too much load.
I’d love to see long-term prolotherapy results before betting my money on it, because it’s kind of… invasive procedure, right near the spine.
So this doctor is the doctor I saw for prolotherapy for my neck. But we only did one session as he said I need to get the styloid removed first. He is the one who recommend me to go to Dr Hepworth. For the neck it’s about 1300 dollars for every visit and they recommend 10-14 visits. I’m lucky that I have grandparents that want me to do the best. I think prolotherapy has been proven many times for people with instability issues. And with what you said about careers,I think that’s funny I had a shoulder surgery 7 months ago where they tied my scapula to my ribs to stabilize it and he explained To me that every person in circus o ley has EDS, but yet they are fine
I think that’s the point about the circus artists. They keep themselves physically fit, and possibly that totally compensates their hypermobility. Me, a pencil pusher and keyboard warrior, had different things to do at least 8-10 hours a day, and those 5-10 hours of physical activity a week wasn’t enough to keep the body in a good shape in my case…
Btw @hyperichard, if you don’t mind my asking, was the scapula stabilization surgery to fix the winging scapula, or snapping scapula? Or something else? How are the results, and how was the recovery period? I started having bad snapping scapulae symptoms about a year ago, and still trying to figure out what to do in case physio won’t help…
My ribs were sliding against my scapula. I could make my ribs shift up and down on my right side. So to prevent this he tied my scapula to my ribs, also pushing my shoulder back and it shortened it a bit(idk why it shortened). My shoulder blade was also in fact very badly “winged” and it fixed that too. However I now have a bad pinched feeling in my shoulder/neck area.
What’s interesting is when I had the surgery and they gave me opioids my shoulder or scapula didn’t hurt at all. It was my neck and tmj that was excruciating. I think when he moved my scapula making everything move it irritated my neck greatly/ the styloid maybe
Unfortunately, tying your scapula down will likely cause you future neck & shoulder problems as the scaps need to be able to glide up & down over the rib cage & when one is tethered, it not only prevents that on one side but creates an imbalance overall for your shoulders & neck. It’s no wonder you’re having the challenges you are now. @vdm is totally on course when noting that circus & ballet performers are adapt to their hyper-mobile conditions by staying extremely strong & physically fit. That, however, part of their job as it keeps them in performance condition.
To quote vdm earlier in this thread: “…it’s not perfect to keep scapulae physically depressed for too long. The reason: depressing the scapulae requires to activate muscles that aren’t supposed to be “postural” but more “power” muscles, latissimus dorsi, lower trapezius, various serratus muscles etc. That might leave them spasmed → keep scapulae permanently depressed → put tension on upper trapezius and levator scapula → put pressure on neck and clavicles (clavicles connected to scapulae via AC joint) → lead to thoracic outlet, snapping scapulae, stiff neck symptoms etc.”
I wish there was some other way your situation could have been helped.
I feel much better! No covid symptoms other than aches and pains but idk if it’s even covid anymore. What I will say about my surgery with the tying of the scapula to the ribs is its helped my posture immensely. I don’t think the surgery is necessarily bad for people with EDS… This doctor was with the mayo clinic and I got it done at Mass General. He has done this surgery on 100s of EDS people and most became pain-free. I just think that it depends on how your body recovers from it. I think if I was able to work out properly and keep strength the surgery would prove helpful in the long run.
Great news about feeling better! Sounds like, if you have COVID, it’s the Omicron variant as it’s known to be much more mild than the previous two iterations. You may be good to go by Fri., but, of course, that’s up to Dr. Hepworth. Please keep us in the loop as to how this plays out for you.
Thank you for the follow-up to my post. Your explanation is helpful. Since I suffer from the opposite of hypermobility (really not making light of your situation just saying I wish I was more flexible but that’s a bit up to me, isn’t it?!)
I expect that once your styloid(s) are gone, much of your neck & shoulder pain will subside, at least to a great degree. I’m sorry you’ve got the hypermobility challenge to go along w/ ES. I’m also glad you have grandparents who are able to help you get the care you deem best for your recovery. I had a similar asset when I was younger & was very thankful for the financial support I received when I needed it.
@hyperichard , I hope your covid symptoms are completely absent by now and you are moving on with Dr Hepworth.
Just out of curiosity… I was thinking about your scapula. I assume you are right-handed, but if you are lefty, just swap R and L.
Also I assume that your dominating-hand (i.e. R) scapula was tied to the ribcage.
I would guess that you use your smartphone and/or tablet quite frequently, and especially while walking or standing, in the way most likely #4 or maybe #2 like in the picture below (the phone lies flat in L palm while R hand is above using fingers [index, middle etc] or the thumb to touch the screen). Also you use the mobile phone in bed lying on one side (likely L) and using R hand to touch the screen with the palm facing the screen, i.e. again similarly to #4? And very rarely use it in the way #3 ?
Regarding phone use the stats on this is staggering ever since the late Steve Jobs figured that you can expand the function of the phone by just adding an App and created an AppStore for world to create apps. Nowadays. the phone serves as debit card, measuring device, a lever, camera, GPS, radio, television, remote control device…etc. All made possible by just adding an app for that function. One can hardly imagine a normal life without it any given time.
My guess is top pic is 3 because both arms/hands are being used equally & both scaps are slightly winged & elbows are equal. Bottom is 4 because only right hand is being used, right scap is slightly depressed & left scap is slightly winged & right elbow/arm is slightly forward of the left. How did I score?
@Isaiah_40_31
So I just don’t want to think of the long-term impact on muscles and postural habits from using the mobile phones… @KoolDude the infographic is great. I was thinking about the addiction… perhaps ultimately people become addicted to dopamine ← emotional excitement ← taking part in social networking, engaging in world’s life, playing games, never getting bored ← being able to get to the internet ← having very convenient, 24x7, always-with-me device with software for internet access that eliminates a lot of obstacles that were in PC desktops ← having smartphone
I guess physiotherapist is going to be extremely demanding and profitable profession just in… 5 years
“I guess physiotherapist is going to be extremely demanding and profitable profession just in… 5 years” - I’d say well before then! People are already having pain from too much computer/cell phone use. I would wager that many haven’t considered PT but they’ll get to the point it’s necessary & maybe sooner than later.
@Kooldude - I sent the link to my husband & my daughter. They thought it was great & did self evals. I didn’t bother. I’m sure I somehow fit into all the addictive habits listed.
. I have one of those coming up on 1/11. I’ll be interested to see how my shoulder feels using the backpack.
I wish I could do similar hikes now 
