Question
I have had intermittent pain from the tips of my fingers all the up to the top of my head. I also get tingling and numbness in from my elbow to my fingers (pinky and ring), especially in the morning. I have a very painful spot inside or under my shoulder blade (if I lift my arm, stretch or press on the spot).  I have some stiffness in my neck and I have pain at the base of my head up to the top of my head and sometimes all the way to my eyebrow, like a fishhook pattern (this is more of a sharp, twinging pain, it's not constant but it's always in the same spots). This is all on my left side.

I think I know what happened-I was weightlifting 5 days a week up until June 07 when I was 4 months pregnant. At that time I noticed numbness and tingling in the morning and a stiffness in my neck (can't turn my head to be parallel with my left shoulder). Then in August the neck and jabbing head pain started. Everything eased up a bit when I had the baby but  now it's gotten worse again, especially after I have been walking around holding the baby in the crook of my left arm.

I will be fine for a few days, then I'll have a bad day (that is pain and discomfort) then I'll forgot about it, then it'll come back, etc.



I have been to two doctors and they said "pinched nerve" and that was it, one gave me Neurotin (sp?) to take but it didn't do anything.

My theory is I injured myself lifting weights (I know I overdid it sometimes) then the pregnancy exacerbated it, combined with my sedentary, sitting at the computer all day job plus I am over six feet tall and don't have the best posture.  

I have tried ice packs, warm baths, ibuprofen and while they all help, the underlying condition remains. It is starting to affect my quality of life and I think I should see a chiropractor.
What do you think? If it is a pinched nerve, would a chiropractor be able to help? Is it muscle strain?  Is all of this connected (the headache, the numbness, the shoulder blade pain etc.)?  

Answer
Cathy,

What you're describing sounds like a disc bulge/protrusion in your neck.   Yes, of course, chiropractic eval' and treatment is the most logical course.  Heat/ice/ibuprophen/neurontin do not change this.  So long as you nave no neurologic signs (e.g. loss of finger or grip strength, loss of reflexes), then manual methods found in a chiropractic office are a good bet.   

Please search through my Q/A's on this site since others have asked about similar situations.

'Hope this helps.  

Dr. G