I Think I Have a Pinched Nerve in My Shoulder…?
Question by WelderChick87: I think I have a pinched nerve in my shoulder…?
It started in the spring/summer when it was getting hotter, I would sleep with my arms above my head a lot and I noticed that I had a slight pinch if I would move a certain way. Now, it’s felt as if the spot where the pain is coming from has ‘migrated’ from my shoulder, to closer to my neck. More recently, it’s been making my neck and jaw hurt sometimes and I can barely lift my arm so that it’s parallel to the ground. :/ I know for a fact that I have not fractured anything in the area because I’ve never done anything rough enough for it. It has nothing to do with work because I’ve been laid off for quite some time. I rarely do any heavy lifting (the boyfriend does that for me ;) ) and I just basically sit around most of the day. *sighs*
Anyways….I don’t have the money to go to a Dr. for this, or a chiropractor, and I’ve tried Advil and any other OTC pain killers, heat and ice, and it doesn’t seem to help. Seems like heat actually makes it worse, and makes me feel stiff. Is there anything I can do at home to help relieve the pain? It’s really starting to bug me :/
Thanks guys.
Um…if any Dr.s are going to answer….please use plain English as I won’t have a clue as to what you’re talking about with all those technical terms :/
Best answer:
Answer by Hamidreza A
Hi :)
This Dr.Amirzehni
dear friend, the symptoms you complaint about, seem to be the symptoms of a disorder, named Thoracic Outlet Syndrome
which means some of your nerves or vessels which go out of you thoracic area to the upper limb, are under pressure. it’s exactly hard to diagnose such thing without visiting you dear, but it seems that the problem is this. this pressure usually is a result of having an extra rib on your cervical spine, and we name it Cervical Rib Syndrome ( a type of Thoracic outlet syndrome). the treatment of this syndrome originally is to free the nerve, by surgery, but first, you have to try weight loss and neck collars and strenght your shoulder muscles. if it didn’t work, you have to have a surgery for that.
but if you sense something like a bug walks on your face,(Formication), it’s an important sign for us, and you may have some tumor compressing facial nerve.
for all of the above unfortunately you have to visit your Doctor and it will help a lot.
and medication wont help in this cases.
Best Regards
Dr.Hamidrza Amirzehni
Answer by Lightning
Without examining you it would be impossible to say for sure.
However, the muscles in your neck will almost certainly be tight. If its affecting your jaw, C1 and 2 are probably implicated. The conecctive tissue here connects into the TMJ also.
The arm symptoms are likely to be from supraspinatus irritation.
The pain in the jaw could also be referral from the trigeminal nerve either in the Cavernous sinus or where it crosses the body of C1 & 2.
Thoracic outlet syndrome doesn’t normally cause pain abducting the arm to 90 degrees but this is possibility.
If you have no money I suggest looking up stretches on the net for the sub occipital muscles, C1 & 2,
Scalenes, Pectoralis minor and some exercises for supraspinatus.
If you do them to just beyond your comfort zone you should improve slowly and you’ll do no harm.
If they are painful stop doing them.
Edit:
The things we mentioned are anatomical structures and physiological conditions. You need to look them up and do some research. You will find information in plain english on google.
Do a search for stretches with the muscles i Mentioned on google you’ll find pictures and maybe video’s.
Edit2:
The answer from the troll is nothing short of harassment of my profession and myself and a lame attempt to humiliate me because…….
Who knows?
I suggest you report this troll because he is breaking the yahoo terms and conditions.
Now to debunk these lies…
####Anywhere else in the world, osteopaths are ill-trained quacks in white lab coats pretending to be doctors####
Erm no.
My work attire today was a pair of tailored shorts and a nice tee shirt.. Nice and loose fitting because I have to move around a lot. I tried the clinic coats but try finding ones made of cotton!
### — they have only superficial medical training and they are certainly NOT “primary care practitioners”.####
In the 4 year training we spend longer learning about pathology, and systemic conditions that affect the body and what we can’t treat than what we actually can. We also learn how to MEDICALLY SCREEN a patient with case history taking, how to do clinical exams such as stephoscopy, organ examination, neuro tests & Orthopaedic tests before starting our osteopathic evalutation.
In the UK, France, Ireland, and Australasia we are Government regulated primary care practitioners. We are fully qualified autonomous diagnosticians and have a safety record which is second to none. Our insurance premiums reflect this.
###If you see one, he will very possibly lunge at you and start massaging your skull.####
?
Well perhaps if the scalp was injured.
The ignorant and the uninformed and the ***pid think cranial ostoepathy has something to do with scalp massage.
###”Government regulation” is in place to prevent osteopaths from prescribing medicines or performing surgery####
?
No it isn’t. This user is pathologically dishonest!
I have never been taught how to do surgery or prescribe drugs. Its not part of the Non US training program. Government regulation exists to protect the public, ensure that we practice within our competence, and make us accountable. We aren’t failed medical students who were allowed to be osteopaths because we couldn’t do surgery or prescribe drugs, we are OSTEOPATHS.
WE learn a completely different system of medicine.
####or in fact doing any useful treatment. All they can do is backrubs and skull massages. You can get that from any barber.####
Well if that’s his experience of an Osteopathic treatment I’m not suprised he hasn’t gone back.
####You would be best off seeing an Orthopedic Surgeon, or perhaps an Physiatrist (note the spelling).####
If you are anywhere in the world I would advise you against any of these. They will be expensive and far too specialised to go to on the first instance. It would be like presenting to a maxilo-facial surgeon for a tooth-extraction in the first instance where a dentist would be the obvious first port of call.
If you present to either of these you are likely to have an expensive consultation with no manual treatment that is going to be of any use and a referral to a practitioner that can actually help you which you could have just seen straight off the bat without that expensive consultation.
If you are in the US and have some money for treatment I would recommend you ring an Osteopath 1st. 95% do no osteopathy at all you will get no manual treatment that is any use.
5% practice osteopathy really well rather than some bastardised version of medicine.
Otherwise see a physio or a chiropractor.
NB. ignore the Troll. He Really does know nothing.
Edit2:
The course I did was the same science course mature students do in order to gain access to medical school. From my year 15 students took the course. 1 went on to do Pharmacy, another went on to physiotherapy, another went on to medicine, I did Osteopathy.
I’m not sure what happened to the others. I lost touch.
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