What nerve causes winged scapula?
The most common cause of scapular winging is paralysis of the serratus anterior muscle due to the injury of the long thoracic nerve. Dorsal scapular neuropathy may result in abnormal motion of the shoulder joint with scapular winging.
Does long thoracic nerve cause winged scapula?
Cases of damage to the long thoracic nerve result in a phenomenon known as winged scapula, which is due to paralysis of the serratus anterior or trapezius muscles.
What muscles are weak in scapular winging?
The long thoracic nerve innervates the serratus anterior muscle (Figure 2). Injury to the this nerve in turn causes weakness of the serratus anterior muscle, which can manifest clinically as scapular winging.
What is the most common cause of scapular winging?
The commonest cause of scapular winging is serratus anterior paralysis, a dysfunction attributed to traumatic [2, 4, 8, 9, 11], non-traumatic [6, 8, 11, 28, 41, 51–53], and idiopathic [6, 8, 11, 28–30] lesions of the long thoracic nerve.
Can winged scapula cause nerve damage?
If the winged scapula is the result of nerve damage, it can cause weakness in the muscles of your neck, shoulders, and arms. That weakness can make lifting, pulling, and pushing heavy objects hard. Scapular winging often affects your ability to raise your arm above your shoulder.
What happens if the Thoracodorsal nerve is damaged?
An intact thoracodorsal nerve may also cause atrophy of the muscle, which can lead to shoulder and arm weakness that hampers numerous common movements, including standing up from a chair.
How do you release a long thoracic nerve?
The treatment options include physical or occupational therapy, and surgery. Surgery involves repair of the nerve either directly or with grafts and one of the widely employed surgical procedures is scapulothoracic fusion. Usually recovery of the nerve takes a long time; up to 6 months.
Do push-ups help winged scapula?
Physical therapists rely on exercises like scapular push-ups to help correct winged scapula, a condition where the scapula muscles are weak, causing them to protrude like wings. Scapular push-ups improve shoulder mobility. Working out this muscle group helps keep your shoulders strong and healthy.
How do you know if you have long thoracic nerve damage?
Typical signs and symptoms are as follows: Observable scapular winging at rest (usually inferior border only), with overhead movements, or resisted wall push-ups/push-ups whereby the entire scapula demonstrates winging (see figure 2). Pain around the base of the neck, deltoid, and scapula.
What happens if the accessory nerve is damaged?
The spinal accessory nerve originates in the brain and enables motion in the trapezius and sternomastoid muscles in the neck. A spinal accessory nerve injury can be caused by trauma or damage during surgery, resulting in shoulder pain, “winging” of the shoulder blades and weakness of the trapezius muscle.
How do you check for thoracodorsal nerve?
The thoracodorsal nerve may be identified as posterior and lateral to the lateral thoracic vein, two centimeters from the confluence of the lateral thoracic vein and the axillary vein. [2][3][4] The lateral thoracic vein is lateral to the lateral border of the pectoralis muscle.
What is the treatment for a winged scapula?
Surgical treatment. The most common surgical treatments for scapular winging are nerve and muscle transfers. These surgeries involve taking all or part of a nerve or muscle and moving it to another part of the body. Nerve and muscle transfers for scapular winging usually focus on the shoulder, back, or chest.
Can winged scapula have no pain symptoms?
Winged scapula can present without any pain or other symptoms. The winging may become apparent only several weeks after an injury.
What causes scapular winging?
Scapular winging is almost always caused by damage to one of three nerves that control muscles in your arms, back, and neck: Injuries and surgeries can both cause damage to these nerves and muscles. Injuries. A variety of injuries can damage important nerves and muscles, leading to a winged scapula.
What are the best exercises for the scapula?
One of the best exercises for the shoulders to improve upward rotation is the scapular plank pushup. This exercise trains the serratus anterior to stabilize the scapula on the ribcage during arm movement.