Pain/Numbness/Pins/Needles Going Down Your Arm Into Your hand?
Pain/Numbness/Pins/Needles Going Down Your Arm Into Your hand?
Does your hand get pins and needles? Does it sometimes go numb? Do you get pain sometimes in your neck and down your arm? Are you working from home and think you're starting to get ‘rounded shoulders’? If this sounds familiar then you possibly have a cervical neck radiculopathy.
Cervical neck radiculopathy can be described as the following: When a nerve root in the cervical spine becomes inflamed or damaged, resulting in a change in neurological function. Neurological deficits, such as numbness, altered reflexes, or weakness may radiate anywhere from the neck into the shoulder, arm, hand, or fingers. Pins-and-needles tingling and/or pain, which can range from achy to shock-like or burning, may also radiate down into the arm and/or hand.
When I see clients with this condition they always ask “Is it nerve damage?” “Will I need an operation”? They explain that it started “with a slight tingling in a finger for a number of years” before their symptoms got worse. Others explained “it started with a numbness in the hand the odd morning but now it’s every morning.” These small occurrences build up and are warning shots, the problem is when you don’t hear them. But when you experience symptoms of Pain, Pins and needles and numbness down your arm and in your hand, it’s important to take this seriously. It is not a normal thing to be happening and can be a sign of nerve damage in your neck.
What is Cervical neck radiculopathy?
Have a look at the picture 1 attached You can see all the nerves (in yellow) emanating from the cervical spine and running down under your shoulder. These nerves branch out from each other and continue down to the hand and fingers. Think of the roots of a tree but these roots cannot go down anywhere, they have to pass through narrow gaps between the bones that the body has left for them.
So, Why am I having Cervical neck radiculopathy?
There can be two main reasons:
- A herniated disc in your spine (Bulge of the disc putting pressure on the nerve).
- A muscle is compressing the nerve.
Sometimes these nerves can get pinched by the vertebrae in the neck or sometimes it may be a protruding or herniated disc catching the arm. Another common reason is that the muscles around these nerves become restricted and cause the ‘pins and needles’, pain or numbness. These muscles can bring two bones closer together and narrow the gap causing the pinching symptoms. In picture 2, I have drawn an arrow at the junction of the collar bone and the 1st rib, also another arrow at the arm bone and shoulder blade (Armpit). Also you can see with picture 3 the muscles are covering the nerves and when they stop movement you will get the warning shots.
Why does it happen?
We need to look at what’s going on with the muscles around the neck and shoulder and the rib cage as a whole. Sometimes these symptoms can be simply put down to tight upper trapezius muscles (the muscle going from your neck to shoulder) or tight pectoral muscles ‘Rounded shoulders’ (at the front of the shoulder). Basically the muscles can get so tight they compress the nerves running under them. In slightly more complex cases some people may be experiencing what is known as thoracic outlet syndrome (it sounds worse than it is!) This is when the nerves coming from your neck that go down your arm get compressed between your first rib and your collar bone. Again this can be caused from tight muscles in the area. These muscles are especially important because they help your BREATHE!
What needs to be done?
If you have a disc bulge causing your symptoms or a muscle compressing the nerve it can be helped. My Job is to figure out why these muscles get tight in the first place. So, I will always look at the neck and shoulder range of motion. I guarantee you that if you have any of these symptoms you have a loss of neck or shoulder range of motion. If I can restore the range of motion I can give the nerve license to move again. Please listen to the warning shots and I hope this helps.
