Open AccessNeuromodulation of the Suprascapular Nerve
Author(s) -
Foad Elahi,
Chandan G. Reddy
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
pain physician
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.31
H-Index - 99
eISSN - 2150-1149
pISSN - 1533-3159
DOI - 10.36076/ppj.2014/17/e769
Subject(s) - medicine , suprascapular nerve , shoulder joint , range of motion , neuromodulation , capsulitis , chronic pain , physical medicine and rehabilitation , scapula , nerve block , physical therapy , surgery , stimulation , brachial plexus
The shoulder joint is an enarthrodial or ball-and-socket joint. A complex network of anatomicstructures endows the human shoulder with tremendous mobility, greater than any other jointin the body. Many pathologies can been found in those patients with chronic shoulder pain.The painful limitation of shoulder motion affects hand and arm motion as well; therefore, itsignificantly influences work performance and everyday activities as well as the quality of life.Therefore, the treatment of patients with chronic shoulder pain has major social and healtheconomic implications.In this article we present a patient with a complex history of shoulder pathology including 7surgeries that left the patient with chronic debilitating shoulder pain.She was suffering from chronic pain and limited mobility of the shoulder joint due to adhesiveshoulder capsulitis. She was treated with a multimodality approach with the goals of increasingshoulder range of motion and decreasing her pain. This did not provide significant improvement.The suprascapular nerve supplies motor and sensory innervation to the shoulder, and can beeasily accessible in the supraspinatus fossa. A suprascapular nerve block dramatically decreasedher pain. This clinical observation along with confirmatory nerve block play an important roleduring the decision-making process for a trial period of electrical neuromodulation.She was followed for 3 months after the permanent implantation of a suprascapular nervestimulator. Her pain and shoulder range of motion in all planes improved dramatically.Peripheral nerve stimulation (PNS) of the suprascapular nerve, in addition to multimodalitypain management, is one approach to the difficult task of treating adhesive capsulitis withaccompanying pain and the inability to move the shoulder.We conducted a literature review on PubMed and found no case describing a similar patientto our knowledge.Key words: Suprascapular nerve, neuromodulation, peripheral nerve stimulation, adhesivecapsulitis, chronic shoulder pain