Re: Accessory nerve damage/ Trap atrophy

[Guest guest]

,

What you are describing seems to be a denervated muscle. When you said that

your physical therapist tried to stimulate the muscle, what did he/she do?

Exercise, electrical stimulation, or anything else?

Research I've read in this field, points to the serious risk of irreversibly

losing the nerve connection only after a few weeks of inactivity. The only

way of maintaining the nerve connection is to use special protocols of

electrical muscle stimulation for denervated muscles. More recent research

has shown progress in regrowing the nerves:

1. Mödlin M, Forstner C, Hofer C, et al. Electrical stimulation of

denervated muscles: first results of a clinical study. *Artif Organs*.

2005;29(3):203-206.

2. Helmut Kern, Christian Hofer, Christian Hofer, et al. Functional

electrical stimulation of denervated muscles: Clinical improvements. *Basic

Appl Myol*. 2006;16(3-4):97-99.

This second article can be accessed for free at

http://www.bio.unipd.it/bam/PDF/16%283 & 4%29/Kern.pdf and it describes the

stimulation protocol in detail. These protocols require special purpose

electrical stimulators, because a denervated muscle has electrical

properties that are vastly different from those of normally innervated

muscle.

To summarize, there is hope, but you have to work with the right tool, and

somebody who is caught up with very recent research.

Giovanni Ciriani - West Hartford, CT 06110 - USA

On Sun, May 1, 2011 at 1:56 PM, <derekreno1@...> wrote:

>

>

> I have a real challenging problem here. About 6 months ago, I had a blunt

> trauma to my left trap muscle. Subsequently, there was damage to the

> accessory nerve which innervates the entires trap muscle. I went to physical

> therapy where we tried to stimulate the muscle to no avail. This is a real

> conundrum for an avid weight lifter. I have two questions.The first is: Does

> anyone know any supplement to help stimulate nerve growth. The second: What

> are some good exercises to work the lower and middle portion of the trap.

> Things that I could to light weight and high reps.

>

> Thanks Everyone;

>

> Reno

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