The first thing to consider is where the pain may be coming from. It can be coming from the wrist, maybe forearm, it could be carpal tunnel? You have to weigh the patient's history if you're the doctor. If you're the patient, think of what you do - for work, leisure, past and present injuries, health conditions...
If you sit at a computer with poor ergonomics and type all day maybe it is carpal tunnel syndrome! But maybe it is neck related. You may not have pain or other symptoms there but it can be the root cause. You see messages come from our brains to spinal card, to nerve roots (bundle of nerves) to nerves and travel all the way down the arm to the hand and fingers.
If your pain is in your hand, especially the thumb, index, or middle finger, or all of them; the neck may be responsible. You see it really will depend exactly where the pressure is. If it's a the nerve root level it can actually affect a number of different nerves. This is often a result of a disc injury, some stenosis, or significant inflammation.
Another factor is, how long has this pressure been there? The longer we've had it then the greater chance to do significant and sometimes permanent damage. Also, over time we can develop more degeneration; in other words, arthritis. This is how stenosis will occur. The discs flatten and bulge, inflammation accumulates, and arthritis can form into bone spures and jagged edges. This contributes to closure of the foramen (holes on each side of the spine) the nerves exit out of.
Also, your age and level of health is a contributing factor. As we age, breakdown occurs. This is another way to say arthritis. Now, depending on how well you take care of youself and genetics will say if you have severe degeneration to hardly any at all.
We can also look to the anatomy as to why we will get symptoms on one side vs both hands and fingers. Is pressure pushing on the spinal card itself, so it's effecting both sides or is it more on the left or right nerve root?
Of course, the pain can be lower down. More on an actual nerve or nerves vs the actual nerve root. You may have muscle spasm up near the neck that is causing the issue.
Additional Reading Resources:
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- Nav Gill BSc. D.C.
The Neck Pain Blogger
Helping you Find Solutions for Neck Pain Relief
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August 2013
August 31, 2013
Why do I get hand pain? I have no pain in my neck or arm?
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August 27, 2013
One Reason for Neck Pain when you are away from Home: Hotel Mattresses
I recently took a seminar in Tampa Florida where we stayed at the Marriott. I remember my sleep being somewhat interrupted because of the soft pillows with no support. This happens a lot with me.
I think this happens with a lot of people. Just this week, Tiger Woods just complained about neck and back pain. The Reason? The hotel mattress that he slept on was too soft. This caused tightness in his neck and back.
"My neck and back are a little bit stiff. It was stiff this morning after a soft bed and just one of those things, sleeping in hotels," said Woods, a participant in the The Barclays pro-am at Liberty National Golf Course "I didn't want to push it, so just took it easy and chipped and putted." Tiger also went on to say that his neck and back pain are not long term issues. He simply blamed it on the hotel beds.Just today, I read that Tiger Woods has pulled out of a charity event for good friend Notah Begay because of his back pain.
Image Source: Tiger has stiff neck, back at Barclays from hotel bed
Additional Reading Resources:
- Wishing Your Pain Away
- keep Your Head and Neck Aligned with THIS pillow
- Posture Braces for sitting and standing long term
- Understanding a Pinched Nerve in the Neck
- Remedy for a Stiff Neck
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August 17, 2013
Most Important Function of C-Spine
One of the important functions of the cervical spine is to support one of our most important features: our head. Our heads hold our brain, our eyes, and other sensory features. The spine is responsible for holding up this valuable computer system and for aiding the functions it is responsible for. For example, our neck’s flexibility allows us to move our head almost 180 degrees from side to side. This mobility enhances our ability to observe the world around us through our senses of sight and hearing. The neck is able to give us this flexibility because it is designed in a set of vertebrae. This structure allows us to move our necks relatively freely, as it is not as restricted by structures such as the rib cage or pelvis which constrict movement of other parts of the cervical spine.
However, at the same time, this means that the neck is less protected and more vulnerable to strains. They have even come up with a specific term for when the head gets jolted in a car or other event. This is called "whiplash". Typically, the head "whips" forward and back or side to side giving trauma to the muscles and other structure of the neck.
You can imagine the importance of the brain and spinal cord; they were built encased in bone. The brain itself is protected by our skull and the spinal cord by the vertebrae. For your body to function, the brain sounds signals or messages down the spinal cord and out the nerves to the body. When the neck is strained we can cause muscle spasm, inflammation, and sometimes disc injury which can inhibit or impede these signals from the brain.
It is this inflammation that usually causes the most pressure to the nerves. We will typically get a pain response but we can also get something worse. Because the cervical spine is so close to the brain we have that much more nervous system activity. We must keep our neck’s in good shape to help protect the rest of the body.
Image Source: Knowing Your Neck and Cervical Spine
Additional Reading Resources:
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August 12, 2013
Wishing Your Pain Away...
So what are you waiting for get working on that neck. Here's an example of someone I know that beat her neck pain, and instead of letting it control her, she controls it.
- Everyday she gets up and takes a hot shower soaking her neck for a few minutes
- Next she does various neck stretches and neck exercises
- She eats a healthy breakfast, gets the kids a good breakfast also, makes their lunches and sees them off to school, and relaxes a bit before heading to work.
- Work mainly consists of being a a computer so she's set it up as ergonomically propper as possible.
- She also tries to get up and move around and stretch hourly. Not to mention she always keeps a bottle of water easily accessible (she will typically drink the equivalent of 6 big glasses of water each day).
- Come home, do her normal family duties. Dinner, dinner with the family, some TV, etc...
- hits the treadmill for a few minutes
- Showers before bed doing some self neck massage
- Lastly, goes to sleep with her neck pillow and also tries to visualize herself pain free before drifting off to sleep.
There you have it, a lot of work, but is it worth it?? She still does this routine or at least an abbreviated version because she doesn't want that neck discomfort to return.
Additional Reading Resources:
- Products for A Pinched Nerve In The Neck
- Hunch Back Posture and how to Avoid It
- I woke up with a krick in my neck, now i Have neck pain...
- Causes of neck pain that don't always comes to mind
- Why Does a Neck Roll Work so Darn Well?
P.S At the time of this writing, the powerball lottery is at 425 million. Now if i was to win that, that would be real Luck. LOL
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August 03, 2013
Prevention Is Always The Key...
- Exercise, this includes stretching! Yes, just getting moving helps the body heal. It may even help more to regularly stretch the neck if you've had problems there too.
- Eating Healthy is a big one. You have to give your body good fuel. If you give your car bad gas or don't take care of it, then it will break down. Your body is similar. If you beat yourself up day in and day out, cover up symptoms with drugs, and ignore pain it will catch up with you.
- A Regular Sleep Schedule is also important in staying healthy. You maybe can't live without your neck pillow but going to bed and awaking, not only on a fairly regular schedule is important, but at normal times is too.
- Be aware of activities that may have a negative impact like stressful ones to the neck and shoulder. Are you constantly with your head down reading?, on your smart phone?, or maybe logging crazy hours on the computer? You don't have to completely stop! Just take periodic breaks...
- See your Chiropractor, massage therapist, Acupuncturist, Herbalist... All the guys that fall out of the allopathic window. If you see your traditional doc (which of course, is fine, especially if you have a bug or natural therapies aren't working this time, he'll say "come back when you are SICK". Remember we are looking for no harm ways for prvention. Drugs and surgery are not preventative medicine.
Additional Reading Resources:
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