Suprascapular nerve entrapment of occupational etiology: clinical and electrophysiological characteristics.

In this paper we report the clinical and electrophysiological study of a patient with suprascapular nerve entrapment. The patient was initially diagnosed as having shoulder pain due to tendinitis, since his job involved continuous loading of the affected shoulder with heavy weights. Later, clinical exploration revealed wasting of the supra and infraspinatus muscles. Electrophysiological study confirmed the diagnosis of a neuropathy of the suprascapular nerve at the level of the coracoid notch, which improved with conservative treatment. This case report stresses the importance of suprascapular nerve entrapment as a causal factor for shoulder pain; it has an occupational origin which should be taken into account in the differential diagnosis of shoulder pain syndromes.