Weakness post muscle strain

Hi guys, last week I went to a MedExpress for pain under my left shoulder blade running up into my neck. The doc took a quick look at my back and said my left rhomboid was really inflamed and put me on Prednisone and a muscle relaxer. I finished the Prednisone on Saturday and haven’t taken a muscle relaxer in about 6 days.

The initial pain is basically gone but I’ve got some pretty severe weakness in my left arm. I could barely get 3 sets of 5 with 65lbs on press this morning (left arm specifically, right feels fine) for reference my usual 3 sets at RPE8 would be ~125lbs. This weakness feels like its in my forearm/hand as well, not just shoulder area.

Is this likely from the strain or some side effect of the Prednisone? Want to make sure this isn’t indicating something else is wrong outside of muscle strain.

Thanks for all the great info you provide!

Can you give a little more information as to what happened with mechanism of injury. A diagnosis of an “inflamed rhomboid” is not really a thing so I want to make sure I have the whole picture. Any time there is weakness we tend to want to do a good motor exam to get a baseline for any side to side differences. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I don’t think with this presentation a rhomboid strain would be high on my differential.

Thanks Derek.

There wasn’t really an “injury” moment. I tend to get a stiff neck / pain around shoulder blade a few times a year and it works itself out after a couple days.

One day about two weeks ago I was laying in bed and felt my neck start to tighten up, hadn’t noticed anything earlier that day. It was a little stiff/sore the next few days but not terrible, so I golfed 2-3 times. Again, nothing during golfing felt particularly bad, but then later that night it started to get really painful / difficult to even sit up. That’s when I went to MedExpress. The doc didn’t check range of motion or strength or anything, just felt the middle of my back.

I should also note I was having a ton of spasming in my left pec, tricep, delt, and lat. That has mostly stopped.

Sorry to hear about your situation. We would need a consultation to work through your experience and provide individualized information. We are typically advocates for remaining active to tolerance, albeit exercise selection may need to be altered when working through these situations. If you need individual guidance and programming, we’d be happy to work with you. Please complete our intake paperwork HERE.