Neck Pain, Shoulder Pain, Numbness

Pinched Nerves Common Problem in Today's Society

• Do you work at a desk all day?
• Do you spend much of your time on the telephone?
• Do you hunch over a computer, feeling your upper back tighten as you cope with the day's stresses?

Twisting and cradling the phone between your ear and shoulder so that your hands are free is a common habit for many people. Few, however, realize the damage they are causing the nerves in their neck.

Likewise, spending long hours over a computer screen is another major cause of spinal stress. Vertebrae become so misaligned and muscles become tight and overused leading to stiffness and injury to the nerves in the neck, shoulder, and arm.

Even more serious is the danger many people face in ignoring their symptoms. With time, untreated injuries like these will degenerate. This is nature's way of compensating for the injury. It is likely that pain will return, often more seriously than before and degeneration from years of neglect will only complicate, if not make impossible, a return to health. An injury that could have been easily corrected but was ignored because the pain was gone often creates greater problems and suffering later in life.

Take Pain Seriously

The care we offer not only relieves the pain of a structural injury, it can also increase range of motion and minimize degeneration in the injured areas. Even if your injury is old it is not too late to benefit from care. The action you take now may save you years of problems and pain in the future.

You owe it to yourself to call Poehlman Chiropractic at 410-788-2225. We can help you enjoy life and your health again.

Your Amazing Incredible Neck

Your neck houses many vital structures.

Inside your neck are your neck bones (cervical vertebrae), spinal and cranial nerves, spinal cord, blood vessels, glands (including the thyroid and parathyroids), voice box (larynx), esophagus, trachea, brain stem, and many muscles, ligaments and other structures. With all that, it's still able to gracefully balance your head and turn, tilt and bend without damaging its vital "occupants." That's amazing because if your neck's functions are interrupted for even a few seconds you'd lose consciousness and begin to die.

The Cervical Spine

Cervix is the Latin word for neck, meaning a constricted area (the uterus and urinary bladders have a neck or cervix too). Your seven small neck bones are called cervical vertebrae, numbered C-1 to C-7.

Inside your cervical vertebrae lies your spinal cord, a continuation of the brain down your neck and back. Protection of the spinal cord is extremely important because an injury to it can result in instant paralysis or death.

Your vertebrae are connected to each other by discs, ligaments and tendons that help give the neck its shape (the cervical curve). Between the vertebrae are openings where nerves, blood vessels, lymphatic vessels, fat and connective tissues are found.

Neck Problems

With all of the neck's complexity it should come as no surprise that neck problems are common. They may develop suddenly from a trauma such as a whiplash or fall, or slowly as a result of spinal imbalance, vertebral subluxations, emotional stress or bad posture. Damaged or irritated neck nerves can cause more than neck pain. Pain in the face, shoulder, arm, wrist, hand and fingers as well as reduced neck motion may also occur. Other neck problems include headaches, vision difficulties, (1,2) dizziness, ringing in the ears, decreased attention span, learning and memory impairments, (3) nasal problems, tongue and throat problems. (4,5)

The most serious neck problems — such as fracture, dislocation or severe tissue damage — can be fatal if not given emergency medical care. Most other neck problems, however, although not life-threatening, can impair your health if not corrected.

Neck Pain

Pain in the neck can be caused by irritation, inflammation, injury or infection. Pain in the neck, shoulder, arm, hand or head "most frequently results from irritation of cervical nerve roots in the region of the intervertebral foramen, encroachment of the vascular supply as it courses through the vertebral canal, or invasion of the cord in the spinal canal. (6)

Disc Degeneration and Herniation

Disc herniation (or rupture) is relatively rare but can be the source of intense pain. Sometimes surgery is needed in this instance, especially when it's due to trauma. However, in many cases, chiropractic techniques can re-establish the integrity of the disc and prevent the need for neck surgery. These should be explored if possible.

Disc degeneration is a more common cause of pain, nerve root and spinal cord irritation. Although many doctors tell their patients that the cause of disc degeneration is age, age alone cannot be blamed for the condition because it can be found even in young children. The most common causes of disc degeneration are years of spinal imbalance, spinal subluxations, physical trauma or emotional stress.

Spinal Imbalance — Cause Of Neck Stress

Let us suppose that one day you carried a bowling ball around for the entire day, but instead of holding it closely at your side, you held it a little distance from your body. You'd get tired very fast! It's the same with your head. If it's properly balanced that's fine, but if it's held even a little off center you will start to suffer from fatigue as well as stress on your neck.

Arthritis

If unhealthy, your neck's normal forward curve may reduce, become straight or "military" or even reverse its curve. Over time arthritic changes in the vertebrae such as lipping or spurring (bony growths); disc thinning or degeneration; or deterioration of muscles, ligaments and other structures may occur. In spite of all these changes, however, there may or may not be pain. In fact, studies show little or no correlation between the degree of pain felt in the neck and arthritic changes found on X-rays and MRI.

Lipping, spurring and other irregularities (osteoarthritis) do not in themselves constitute a disease but are rather defense mechanisms that arise to stabilize an off-balance spine. (7) Recent research has shown that chiropractic care can reverse some of the effects of osteoarthritis — something that had previously been considered impossible. (8)

The Orthodox Medical Approach

The standard medical approach to neck pain is painkillers, muscle relaxers and/or tranquilizers. If the pain doesn't subside, an orthopedic surgeon may be consulted and more drastic treatment — cortisone or other injections — may be administered. When should the physician resort to surgery? "As a last resort. " (9) Clearly, a patient should not consent to anything as drastic as neck surgery without first consulting another healer — in particular, a chiropractor!

The Role of the Chiropractor

When the spinal bones are off center, the small openings through which the nerves travel may become narrower causing irritation to the cervical nerve roots (10) and may also cause pressure upon the spinal cord. Chiropractic spinal care counters the effect of stress and unnatural wear and tear by relieving your neck of the vertebral subluxation complex and restoring proper movement to the spinal column.

Chiropractic and Neck Injury

Since most medical doctors and physical therapists are not trained to locate and correct vertebral subluxations, an accident victim will leave the emergency room with as many subluxations as they had when they entered. Without chiropractic spinal care, a neck injury might continue to cause silent damage for decades before the problem is recognized; by that time it may be too late for a complete recovery.

Get a Spinal Checkup

Everyone with a spine needs to have it checked periodically by a chiropractor. Just as a periodic dental checkup is necessary to keep your teeth healthy, so a chiropractic spinal checkup is necessary to ensure a nervous system that is free from vertebral subluxations permitting you to experience greater healing and well-being.

Shoulder, Arm, and Hand Problems

Many Names for Shoulder Problems

Neuritis, bursitis, neuralgia, rheumatism, frozen shoulder, fibrositis, sprains, strains or "poor circulation" are some of the terms used to describe neck, shoulder and arm conditions.

Brain Control

What controls your shoulders, arms and hands? The brain "talks" with the rest of your body through a vast communications system made up of nerves called the nervous system. Billions of nerves extend from your brain as a large bundle called the spinal cord, travel down your back inside your spinal column and exit between your spinal bones to go to nearly every part of your body.

Plexus

Some nerves go straight to their point of destination, but some first mix with other nerves to form complicated nerve networks called a nerve "plexus."

Brachial Plexus

The brachial plexus is made up of nerves that come out of the middle and lower neck and upper back. After they form the brachial plexus they branch off to supply different areas, especially the shoulders, arms, elbows, wrists, hands and fingers.

Brachial Plexus Injury

People sometimes blame their joint or organ problems on "old age" even though they have many other joints and organs that are just as old that have no problems. What is much more common is irritation to the nerves. The nerves that make up the brachial plexus may be irritated as they exit the spinal column. This may occur when the spinal bones in the neck and upper back are misaligned and damage the very nerves they are supposed to protect. What causes the spinal bones to misalign? Nearly any injury or "trauma" could do it. Old injuries such as falls from childhood, sports mishaps, car accidents (especially whiplash — a situation where the head and neck are suddenly "snapped" forward and backward) and sleeping in an awkward position could damage the spine. Even birth stress could cause spinal nerve damage that can affect the arms, shoulders and hands.

Results of Brachial Plexus Injury

Depending on which brachial plexus nerves are damaged, different symptoms may be experienced. There may be muscle weakness; there may be neck pain or stiffness with or without pain that spreads or "radiates" to the shoulder, arm, wrist, hand or fingers. Sometimes there is no neck pain but pain in the arm, wrist, fingers or hand. Sometimes there's numbness, sometimes there's pain and numbness and sometimes there are strange nerve sensations ("pins and needles"). (11, 12)

Other Conditions

Because of the complicated way nerves interrelate, headache; migraine; facial pain; dizziness; limited, painful or stiff motion of the head and neck; throat conditions; thyroid and nasal problems; epilepsy and even lower back pain have been reported as being caused by neck or brachial nerve plexus irritation. (13)

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome or CTS is now so common it's called an "occupational disease." (14) Symptoms include tingling and numbness in the hand, fingers and wrist; pain so intense that it awakens you at night and similar symptoms in the upper arm, elbow, shoulder or neck. "Faulty enervation caused by spinal joint lesions is one of the main factors in the production of wrist swelling, carpal tunnel syndrome, [and] tennis elbow." (15) Increasing numbers of CTS sufferers are seeking out the non-drug, non-surgical approach that chiropractic offers.

The Chiropractic Approach

Although chiropractic's success with shoulder, arm, wrist and hand problems is well documented, (16-20) chiropractic is really not a "treatment" for those problems. The chiropractic approach to shoulder and hand problems, carpal tunnel syndrome, brachial plexus injury or any health problem is to analyze your spine to locate and correct a serious nerve-damaging spinal condition called the vertebral subluxation complex (VSC).

Vertebral Subluxation Complex

The VSC is a misalignment of your spinal bones that puts stress on your nerves, bones, ligaments, discs, tendons, muscles, tissues and internal organs. Your nervous system coordinates and organizes your entire body and its proper functioning is essential for physical and neurological health. If there is any damage to it, the effects can be profound.

Your doctor of chiropractic is specially trained to locate and correct the VSC. Unless corrected, vertebral subluxations in your body can cause or contribute to many health conditions and prevent or interfere with the normal healing process. After your chiropractor has located your VSC, he/she will "adjust" or correct it. This will release spine and nerve pressure and help restore the healthy flow of nerve impulses between your brain and your body parts and help rebalance your system.

Prevention

By having your and your family's spines checked on a periodic basis many of the problems caused by an unhealthy spinal column can be corrected and even prevented before they become serious. An ancient Chinese medical saying is: "If people paid attention to their little health problems, they wouldn't have big health problems."

References

1. Gorman, R.E. The treatment of presumptive optic nerve ischemia by spinal manipulation. JMET, 1995.18, pp. 172-177.
2. Zhang, C, Wang, Y., Lu, W. et al. Study on cervical visual disturbance; and its manipulative treatment. I Trad Chinese Medicine. 1984, 4, pp.
3. Di Stefano, G. & Radanov, B.P. Course of attention and memory after common whiplash: A two-years prospective study with age. education and gender pair-matched patients. Acta Xeurol Scand. 1995,21. pp. 346-352.
4. Barre, M. Sur un syndrome sympathetique cervicale posterieur et sa cause frequent. 1,'Arthrite Cervicale.Xeurological Review 33. 1926. p. 1246.
5. Vernon, H. Upper cervical syndrome. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1988, p. 192.
6. Cailliet, R. Neck and arm pain. Philadelphia: F.A. Davis, 1979, p. 45.
7. Ibid, p. 53.
8. Ressel, O.J. Disc regeneration: Reversibility is possible in spinal osteoarthritis. International Review of Chiropractic. March/April 1989, p. 39.
9. Cailliet, R., p. 85.
10. Jackson. R. The cervical syndrome (2nd ed.).Springfield, II., 1958. ;. mHLMANewftop
11. Wilbourn A, Porter J. Thoracic outlet syndromes. In Spine: State of the Art Reviews. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Company. 1988;2:4.
12. Cailliet R. Neck and Arm Pain. Philadelphia: F.A. Davis Company. 1979:22. Spinal nerve damage in the neck could affect nerves going to the shoulder, arm and hand.
13. Cailliet R. ibid:40.
14. Nonsurgical relief for carpal tunnel sufferers. Let's Live, August 1993.
15. Bourdillon JF. Spinal Manipulation (3rd ed.), New York:Appleton Century crots. 1984:207; 210-211; 219-224.
16. De Franca GG, Levine IJ. The T-4 syndrome. JMPT. 1995; 18a;34-37.
17. Polkingorn BS. Chiropractic treatment of frozen shoulder syndrome (adhesive capsulitis) utilizing mechanical force, manually assisted short lever adjusting procedures. JMPT. 1995;18:105-115
18. Ferguson LW. Treating shoulder dysfunction and "frozen sho ulders." Chiropractic Technique. 1995; 7:73-81.
19. Sobel JS, Winters JC, Groenier K, Arendzen JH, Meyboom de Jong B. Comparison of physiotherapy, manipulation, and corticosteroid injection for treating shoulder complaints in general practice: randomized, single blind study. British Medical Journal. 1997;314:1320-5.
20. Davis PT, Hulbert JR, Kassak KM, et al. Comparati of conservative medical and chiropractic treatments for c tunnel syndrome: a randomized clinical trial. JMPT. 1998;21(5):317-326.