Abstract
Study design:
Case report.
Objectives:
To describe a case of suprascapular nerve entrapment (SNE) in a patient with a spinal cord injury (SCI) as a cause of shoulder pain.
Setting:
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Institute, Nancy, France.
Report:
Six months after the occurrence of acute paraplegia T9 ASIA, a 45-year-old man complained of pain in the posterior and lateral areas of the left shoulder. A clinical assessment found an atrophy of the infraspinatus muscle and a muscular weakness during external shoulder rotation. SNE was suggested as a cause of pain and confirmed by nerve conduction recording. Magnetic resonance imaging excluded any compressive cyst. SNE at the spinoglenoid notch, related to upper limb overuse, was suggested. A gluco-corticoid injection in the proximity of the suprascapular nerve eliminated the pain in a few hours. Two months after the injection, the pain had not reappeared, the infraspinatus muscle atrophy was resolved, and supraspinal nerve conduction was normalized.
Conclusion:
Shoulder pain is common in individuals with paraplegia, but this is the first time that SNE has been reported as a cause of pain. This micro-traumatic pathology, well known in athletes, is probably under-diagnosed in patients with SCI who overuse their upper limbs for wheelchair propulsion and body transfers.
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Facione, J., Beis, J., Kpadonou, G. et al. Suprascapular nerve entrapment in a patient with a spinal cord injury. Spinal Cord 49, 761–763 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/sc.2010.89
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sc.2010.89
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