Neck Pain Spreading to My Back

[Ron Marie Douglas]

Dr. Steve,

While I am planning to call my regular doctor tomorrow to possibly get in, I thought I would ask you about my pain first. About a week ago, I woke up with a very stiff neck. I've had this before, a very sore neck for about a week and then it goes away. This time, over the course of a week, the neck pain remained, spread to my upper back and now my arms hurt from the neck pain. I've done some online research to get some kind of a diagnosis and it sounds like a bulging disk or maybe just spasms. Is this the type of thing that the only remedy would be rest and stretching? I've been applying heat and icy-hot and taking aleve for the swelling and pain.

Thanks!

[Dr Steve]

Dr. Steve,

While I am planning to call my regular doctor tomorrow to possibly get in, I thought I would ask you about my pain first. About a week ago, I woke up with a very stiff neck. I've had this before, a very sore neck for about a week and then it goes away. This time, over the course of a week, the neck pain remained, spread to my upper back and now my arms hurt from the neck pain. I've done some online research to get some kind of a diagnosis and it sounds like a bulging disk or maybe just spasms. Is this the type of thing that the only remedy would be rest and stretching? I've been applying heat and icy-hot and taking aleve for the swelling and pain.

Thanks!

RMD:

What you are describing is a thing called "torticollis"...a spasm and pain of the neck muscles. If you have FEVER and torticollis, this makes doctors very nervous. In the absence of fever, however, this is usually a musculoskeletal thing.

Now...think about it...how do the neck muscles EVER relax? Your head doesn't hold itself up, the neck muscles do it, and they do it with a little trick of leverage. If you grimace and feel the front of your neck, you'll feel two prominent muscles, called the "sternocleidomastoid" muscles. These are designed to do several things, but one of them is to pull your head forward (chin tuck). Behind your neck are "paraspinal muscles" that do also many things, but are designed to pull your head backward. It is tension between these two forces that keeps your head erect. So you can see, no matter what position your head is in, some of your neck muscles have to be contracting, and therefore, the neck never rests (when it's upright).

So the answer (assuming you don't have a slipped disk, which you well may...only a visit with your health care professional can determine this accurately) is to give the neck a rest with a soft cervical collar. If you get one that is wide enough to actually hold your head up, the neck can relax and the muscles start to heal and the spasm goes away (and so does the pain). The benefit is often immediate.

If it's bad enough, you may improve faster with physical therapy. Some people get good results with Chiropractic as well, though I'd make sure I didn't have a herniated disk before I did any heavy-duty manipulations on your neck (if I was a chiropractor, which I'm not).

Let me know what they say...if it's just a muscle spasm they may prescribe an antiinflammatory and a muscle relaxer as well, though I'd definitely ask for the cervical collar if they don't offer it to you right away.

hope this helps.


your pal,



steve

[smiler grogan]

It is Lupus trust me I know. btw how are your bowel movements?

[Ron Marie Douglas]

Thanks again Dr. Steve. The pain in my arm is getting progressively worse so I will definitely be calling the doctor in the morning. I will report back.

[jauble]

Thanks again Dr. Steve. The pain in my arm is getting progressively worse so I will definitely be calling the doctor in the morning. I will report back.

sometimes this helps me when I get pains running down my arm, try lightly poking something like the end of corckscrew into the palm side of your hand/fingers. I dont know why this helps but little pokes (dont break the skin) relax my whole arm, although it is just brief.

[Ron Marie Douglas]

Late last night/early this morning, my chest started to really hurt, stemming from my neck. I saw a doctor today, my primary care physician. He thinks it's likely a pinched nerve. He suggested that I alternate heat and ice for the next 72 hours and prescribed me some cyclobenzaprine. If the pain continues for the next 72 hours, I should call him and he will set me up with a physical therapist. He mentioned that he doesn't usually suggest the collar for my condition.

Since the visit, I've taken his advice but i picked up a collar from CVS and have been wearing it around the house. I must admit, it seems to feel better.

Would it be worth my time to look for a chiropractor in the meantime and see if that would help?

[Dr Steve]

Late last night/early this morning, my chest started to really hurt, stemming from my neck. I saw a doctor today, my primary care physician. He thinks it's likely a pinched nerve. He suggested that I alternate heat and ice for the next 72 hours and prescribed me some cyclobenzaprine.

that's a muscle relaxer, also known as "Flexeril". If it's a spazzed muscle, it should help.


If the pain continues for the next 72 hours, I should call him and he will set me up with a physical therapist. He mentioned that he doesn't usually suggest the collar for my condition.

I know, I know, a lot of docs don't do things the way I do, and that's ok. If however you have spasms of the neck muscles, I would argue that little else will actually help. :smile:

Since the visit, I've taken his advice but i picked up a collar from CVS and have been wearing it around the house. I must admit, it seems to feel better.

:thumbup:

Would it be worth my time to look for a chiropractor in the meantime and see if that would help?

That's for you to say, not me, but if it was me, I'd give the allopath (practitioner of western medicine) a chance to make it right first. If you get no relief, then you'd be absolutely correct in seeking relief from another branch of medical therapy.

hope this helps


steve