During the last few months of this blog I’ve really enjoyed talking to you about all the things going on outside of the clinic. Now it’s time to take you back inside and focus on a common problem that we treat here at Cleve Chiropractic – neck and arm pain.
Pain in both these areas can vary from a mild annoyance to having a crippling impact on you life. When a patient comes to see us with these symptoms, we first consider red flags that would need further investigations, such as night pain and unexplained weight loss.
When these have been ruled out or dealt with, in most cases the problems can then be managed in house. Some of the causes of this condition include traumas, such as a sports injury or a fall, simply sleeping in a strange position, or even extreme sneezing. Our job is then to work out what happened in the first place and try to reverse it.
With severe neck and arm pain, we would first consider problems such as disc bulges or bony spurs in the neck. To assess this in the clinic, we run through the same advanced neurological tests that a consultant would conduct and, if appropriate, refer the patient in house for an X-ray, or for an MRI scan, which takes place off site.
If the diagnosis is confirmed as a disc issue, the immediate remedy involves gentle traction and soft tissue work. With regular treatment, we would expect a patient to feel significantly better within two or three months.
Another cause of neck and arm pain that’s even more common is a condition known as Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, or TOS. Many people would have suffered with temporary TOS, probably without realising – it sometimes happens when we have slept in an odd position that leaves us with a numb arm. In most cases, this sensation will quickly disappear.
However, muscle spasms and joint issues can sometimes create permanent neck and arm pain, or feelings of numbness. We define TOS as a condition where a patient’s pulse will disappear at the wrist when we perform certain stress tests – sadly this can frustrate patients for years. Fortunately, however, TOS normally responds really well to treatment in most cases, allowing the patient to get back to enjoying their lives again within a matter of weeks.
One more example of neck and arm pain can actually originate from shoulder problems. The most common of these is impingement syndrome, where classically a tendon and small fat sac – called a bursa – gets trapped between the arm and the shoulder. Bursas can refer pain down the arm and make the neck muscles spasm, causing the patient to endure some annoying neck pain.
It’s beginning to sound like all bad news, isn’t it? But don’t worry, because help is at hand. The good news is that, in the clinic, we have ultrasound scanners that can easily diagnose these conditions. After that, we can treat you with a combination of therapies including chiropractic, physio, sports therapy and sometimes injections.
So if you, or anyone you know, has been suffering with neck and arm pain, book in to see us straight away and let’s get you on the road to recovery!
Photo by Keenan Constance on Unsplash
