Question

Tingling picture   Dear Dr.

Firstly, I would like to thank you for taking my question. im a 22 year old male, not extremely active, my posture could use some improvement, especially my upper back since its fairly sore and looks like rounded shoulders, and maybe a little forward head posture. This is due to the computer usage I do. Moreover I have a tingling or numbness in my left lower trapezius area. I know a little about anatomy so I thought it might help. Moreover, when I press it or cross massage  its a little painful, nothing that severe. occasionally i get that tingling from overhead exercises or just randomly on a day when lifting something, its not painful but it feels like a tingle. sometimes it goes away. I attached a picture to make it more clear. It does not happen on my right side. i hope I was clear as possible, Im more than willing to do any exercises or stretches. I have seeked medical help from a  physiotherapist in the past for shoulder impingement pain and she just put a electric stimulation pad in that area I circled in that picture and truly and honestly it didn't help. And she gave me some exercises but they just made the problem worst. But then I motivated myself I left her office  researched focused on serratus anterior strengthening exercises and pec minor massage and stretches that truly helped the most with the impingement, now this tingling issue I could use some help on. Thanks a lot.

Answer
Dear Al,

Sorry to hear about your pain/tingling issue.  You do seem to be far ahead of most folks when it comes to understanding what is going on, so I do think there is a good chance I can show you how to fix yourself.  

I the picture you send you can see that there are a lot of muscle groups intersecting in the area where you are feeling your tingling.  The key will be to release the inappropriately tight tissue that is aggravating the nerve(s) that are causing your symptoms.

If you take a moment that think of all the muscles in your body like the rigging (ropes) on a big old-fashioned sailboat, you can begin to understand that if some of the rigging (muscles) get to tight, they can begin to pull other things like bones and nerves out of position and cause pain and lack of function.   And while PT's do many wonderful things, they seem to want to "strengthen" muscle groups to get rid of your symptoms, where in my experience it more that certain muscle groups need to be "released" to restore optimal space and functioning in the body.  This is especially true of the serratus anterior, in my experience.

I talk about all of this is greater detail  on my totally free website Do-It-Yourself-Joint-Pain-Relief
http://www.do-it-yourself-joint-pain-relief.com/
where I have videos for every single joint in the body.

So I'm going to recommend you visit my Middle Back Pain Relief page,
http://www.do-it-yourself-joint-pain-relief.com/middle-back-pain-relief.html#.Ut
Just follow along with the videos and I think there is a good chance you can fix yourself.

From your description above, I do think you could probably also benefit from the Neck and Shoulder Pain page,
http://www.do-it-yourself-joint-pain-relief.com/neck-and-shoulder-pain-relief.ht
even though you did not describe any pain in that area, the additional attention to these different muscle groups may help you in the long run to stay pain free.

I do hope this proves helpful.

All the best,

Gary Crowley