A question about serratus anterior (?) and help needed please

Hi,

 

Before going into details about this I must mention that I don't have a possibility to see a doctor now because I'm on holiday in another country.

 

One morning I woke up with a pain which looked like to be inside the chest on the lefthandside. I thought it was scapulae at that moment and very cautiously did some movements which I usually do in a warm up which seemed to help and the pain would go away but now it struck back again but this time I feel it next to/ in my armpit. So I guess it is Serratus Anterior.

 

Here are some details: in the beginning I felt pain everywhere from where chest muscles (and left chest itself) met shoulder ones right to the the elbow and in biceps. Now it is in the armpit only.

I don't feel pain when or after doing pushing movements, even when protracted, pulling is what makes it worse so I suspended RC work (elevated rows 4x8 when the pain started). I also reduced Xiaopeng Fwd weight, just in case even though it doesn't cause pain. My sPL element elbow plank (5x60 sec) doesn't seem to bother it as well so I keep it. I won't be doing TB until the pain goes away.

 

Does anyone (I know there are some PTs here) could know what issue is that? I have two pictures below where I'm in position where I assesed the pain location the most precisely. One is with my scapula hanging there (almost protracted but when I actually do so, I feel it more intense) and another is when I retract the scapula, the pain goes away. I put red marks in the picture to show the location (don't mind the lats).

 

I appreciate any feedback and help from this community. Thank you

The area where you have the problem is usually the thoracic spine and ribs. If it was th serratus anterior it would be worse with sPl exercises.

This a complex area. What does it feel like after the thoracic bridge series?

Hi Mark, thank you for your response.

It doesn't feel any different than not doing anything. My thoracic spine strength is very very low, all of my bridge strength work is scaled down (maybe that is why my FL progress is the slowest?).

However, today I did some TB exercises for shoulders and HS work (PE5 week 6) and I feel a slight relief.

I must note however that I did only two TB sessions (three with low effort today) until now.

But yesterday was the first day that I didn't do RC work and the pain wouldn't get stronger unlike the last time.

I'm planning to go easy with my foundations until Sunday and if the pain won't go away I will suspend most of the F1 work.

I tested many positions and it seems that when I'm standing face to the wall and protract shoulders, the pain appears either in one or a few ribs or thoracic spine itself, or both (feels deep in the middle chest). When I retract and extend the spine standing back to the wall the pain seems to appear near the right shoulder blade but to a higher degree.

Until you can get some treatment for it I recommend that you do some foam rolling and self massage with a lacrosse ball.