Arms'n'hands Arthritis = Injured Neck "nexus"?

[cowgirl]

Arthritis has "hit" me, rather painful, achy, temperature sensitive arms,elbows, shoulder and hands. Had a neck injury with active duty auto accident years ago. Getting checked with IMO and VA asap. Does this neck and athritis connection sound familiar and if so, does it have a name? Thank you very much and God Bless! cg

Edited August 24, 2007 by cowgirl

[free_spirit_etc]

http://www.apta.org/AM/Template.cfm?Sectio...ContentID=20434

Is It Only A "Pain In The Neck"?

Pain in the cervical region can cause arm pain as well as the "pain in the neck." Why? In the case of the arms, it's because the nerves that branch out from the neck go all the way down into the arms and into the hands. Sometimes it's difficult to tell whether the pain is actually originating in the neck, or the arms, or both.

Symptoms in the arms include numbness, tingling, cold, aching, and "pins and needles." These symptoms can be confused with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), a condition found in people who work at computer keyboards or perform other repetitive motion tasks for extended periods. In CTS, the nerve sheath that runs down the center of the forearm becomes inflamed and restricts the gliding movement of the nerve. It is possible, however, for a nerve impingement to start much further "up the chain," in the neck region. It's also possible for the nerve impingement to be taking place both in the neck and in the arm.

http://www.necksurgery.com/symptoms-arm.html

Arm pain, strangely enough, is sometimes not a symptom of something wrong with the arm, but a problem in the cervical spine (neck). Neck problems can affect the shoulders, arms, and even hands. These problems can be caused by wear and tear over the years, trauma, or simply "over-doing-it" one weekend.

If you are suffering from arm pain and have been in any sort of accident involving your neck, you should seek treatment from a physician. Get a list of questions to ask your doctor.

Types of Pain

Acute pain is commonly described as a very sharp pain or a dull ache. Treatment of acute pain includes physical therapy, medication, and other preventative practices, but this is usually is short-term. Patients with acute pain, even when it's severe, will typically improve or completely recover within six to eight weeks.

However, individuals with acute pain occurring more than three times in one year or who experience longer-lasting episodes of arm pain that significantly interfere with functional activities (e.g., sleeping, sitting, standing, walking, bending, riding in or driving a car) tend to develop a chronic condition.

Chronic pain is commonly described as a deep, aching, dull or burning pain in one area of the neck or traveling down the arms. Patients may experience numbness, tingling, burning, or a pins-and-needles type sensation in the arms. Chronic pain tends to last a long time, and is not relieved by standard types of medical management like medication, physical therapy, or rest. It may result from a previous injury, or it may have an ongoing cause, such as nerve damage or arthritis. Keep track of your pain using our Neck Pain Tracker.

Causes of Arm Pain

Neck pain radiating down the arms is often caused by cervical spinal stenosis or a herniated disc.

Spinal stenosis refers to the narrowing of the area of the spine where the nerve leaves the spine and travels to the rest of the body. This narrowing can be caused by many things: herniated disc, bone spurs, thickened ligaments, thickened bony structures, trauma, arthritis, and tumors. As the nerve leaves the spine, it travels through an opening created by bony structures of the spine above and below the nerve. If the size of this area is decreased, the decreasing can lead to irritation and "pinching" of the nerve, leading to pain and sometimes loss of function. The nervous system is the "communication system" of your body, so anything interfering with this communication can cause loss of mobility as well as pain and discomfort.

When the outer lining that surrounds the disc tears, the soft center squeezes out through the opening, creating a herniated disc. This protrusion can then put pressure on a nerve leading to pain. When a nerve root or the spinal cord is being pinched, you may experience pain in your neck, and pain or numbness in one or both of your arms and hands. In severe cases, the muscles that are controlled by the nerve root that is being compressed by the disc herniation may become weak. The pain that you feel in your neck, back, and arms can come from a combination of a tear in the annulus fibrosis, from the pressure that the disc herniation puts on the nerve, or from irritation, inflammation and swelling within the nerve.

[cowgirl]

Thanks Freespirit, hands ache and have pain, so far Alleve once or twice a day. IMO did blood lab, results next week. Your information really gives me alot to contemplate, I am concerned about driving the care with the kids because my hands go numb, then the pain starts in the fingers and goes to shoulder and arms. Will let VA evaluate as well. Just strange to be somewhat okie dokey then wake up one day and have hands/arms on the fritz, numb, weak, loss of grip, cold&hot and hurting. Again, thanks for the info cg

[Pete53]

I don't know if it is prescribed for arthritis but every so often I have a flare up of gout which is extremely painful and a form of arthritis and one or two 50 mg of endocin stop the pain in short order.

The thing that you have to watch out with aleve is that if you end up taking 4 or more a day you can burn up your kidneys. I know this from two people who I know personally that this happened to.

[free_spirit_etc]

Have you been diagnosed with arthritis? It might be something else - OR arthritis AND something else.

They might do some nerve conduction studies on you - where they can trace the impulses along the nerves and see if there is any nerve damage or impenged nerves.

When I hurt my shoulder - everything radiated down to my hand. The nerve conduction studies showed the nerves were okay. With therapy - the pain started getting more localized - and back to where the injury was (in my shoulder) instead of spreading all the way down my arm.

But that was LONGE ago - and I still have to work with my hand a lot - or it will start wanting to draw up on me and hurt.

Our bodies are connected through amazing pathways. If we are injured - it rarely affects just that part. It affects the pathways.

Free

Thanks Freespirit, hands ache and have pain, so far Alleve once or twice a day. IMO did blood lab, results next week. Your information really gives me alot to contemplate, I am concerned about driving the care with the kids because my hands go numb, then the pain starts in the fingers and goes to shoulder and arms. Will let VA evaluate as well. Just strange to be somewhat okie dokey then wake up one day and have hands/arms on the fritz, numb, weak, loss of grip, cold&hot and hurting. Again, thanks for the info cg