<p>Glad you’re feeling better, dstark
I have had this problem (impingement) all my adult life and gotten various treatments for it. I’m hardly ever bothered by it anymore. I think this is because I’ve learned so much about how to compensate for postural problems and work habits which aggravate it.</p>
<p>For anyone who experiences this I highly recommend this book: Heal Your Own Neck, by Robin McKenzie. It has the best concise information about this problem I’ve seen and the only exercises that have ever worked for me. I used to get totally immobilized by my neck pain a few times a year until I started doing the exercises in this book. It has helped me manage it so I haven’t had bad pain in years. The best $10 I ever spent in my life.</p>
<p>Hi gang, this thread popped up in Google. I am on day 4 of a pinched nerve in my neck. This ranks right up there with labor pains. The meds so far are just taking a tiny edge off the pain. 600 mg of Advil, 5/500 Vicodin, 5mg muscle relaxant Flexicon. Only on day 2 of my steroid pack. From an older MRI I have a bulging/herniated disc at C5-6. </p>
<p>Any new tips? I am willing to try the upright sleeping position. We have an inversion table that I a tempted to use.</p>
<p>When I had it, I went to the hospital thinking I might be having a heart attack from the intensity of the shooting pain. I stood on my feet nonstop for over 36 hours because it was the only way to get relief. </p>
<p>Try stretching one or the other arms overhead to the ceiling. That relieved my pain and the nurse practitioner said it was a classic relief for C5/C6 pain.</p>
<p>Personally, I would (gingerly) try the inversion table. Have you got someone who could help ou try it?</p>
<p>I have a pinched nerve between C5/6 and a history of bulging disks at C4/5, 5/6 and 6/7. Went to the doc on Wed., and he put me on Lodine (non-narcotic painkiller), 5 mg Flexeril at night, and I start PT next week. Once the Lodine wears off I’m a pretty unhappy puppy, but it is working better than 800 mg ibuprofen every six hours, which is not good for my liver, since I have other meds that significantly tax my liver.</p>
<p>I have trouble with a pinched nerve and the only thing that works is time. It just seems to go away by itself. I suffer for awhile. The worst one I had caused a severe burning feeling in my left tricep it was brutal.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. I am totally taken aback by the intensity of the pain and it is such an odd sensation to not be able to tilt my head back to do something as simple as look in the kitchen cupboards.</p>
<p>I tried the recliner last night, but ended up with both dogs trying to join me…</p>
<p>I had an issue with C5 due to a horse accident. Arm was numb all the time. I managed to avoid surgery with both time and PT. The most effective PT was weight pulling my neck up away from my shoulders. I would beg the PT people to add more weight. I still have issues sometimes and a good chiropractor can crack my neck in a way that feels great for a month after. Definitely I would look at PT with someone who can read an MRI and give targeted therapy.</p>
<p>Hi Kajon, hope you’re feeling better today! It sounds like what you have is too severe to respond to ice and heat? The comparison to L and D is a good one!</p>
<p>Time & PT is working for my sister. She’s been in pain since the holidays & will have had 2 months off from her job as a special ed teacher by the time she tries to go back the end of this month. Several have recommended surgery, but she’s tried several docs & PTs. The current PT seems best & she seems to be a lot less pained recently.</p>
<p>In Yoga we learn about the problem pose, “microsoftasana.” It leads to all kinds of problems. If you sit with chronic slumped forward shoulders, head pulled forward (“chicken necked”) and tilted up to see a screen that is a bit too high, and arms with elbows out, then you will have strained neck and shoulder muscles that become rock hard and yank the bones of the neck out of alignment. Ouch! </p>
<p>To fix:</p>
<p>Raise the chair seat a bit. Place a small pillow at the low curve of the back. Sit with the tail bone all the way back against the back of the chair. Lean back into the pillow so you are sitting on your sits bones with tail against the chair and a nice pillow-supported low back curve. Let the shoulder blades roll back and slide down the ribs. Draw the head back a bit without lifting the chin. Do not tilt the chin up - position the chair height so that you are looking straight ahead at your screen. Bring elbows in. No phone up against the ear habit. This postural habit correction can help relieve the neck/shoulder strain that may have led to the neck pain in the first place. </p>
<p>To loosen overtight neck muscles, the arm over the head pose you folks have described as relieving is great and it can be done lying on your back. But when you do lie down, tuck the shoulders deeply under so you are on the flats of the shoulder blades. Then put a pillow by your arm so you can relax the lifted arm onto something comfy. A few minutes with one arm up over your head; then a few minutes with the other up over the head. Standing, sitting, lying down.</p>
<p>I don’t have the chiro crack the neck - used to and neck started to hurt more; and my doc buddy says it’s a known danger. My chiro pulls the neck (traction) and that feels really good.</p>
<p>I have 3 partially herniated discs in my C-spine from a bad car accident when I was 16. About 10 years ago I hit bottom and could not rotate my neck more than 45 degrees to the opposite side. Several months of PT restored full range of motion. Besides the exercises, the most valuable tip from the therapist is I have changed my sleep posture. Never on the stomach and I have ditched the pillow when sleeping on my back. A small towel or t-shirt rolled up underneath the natural curve in my neck is all I need. It will take getting used to.</p>
<p>wow this is timely (as i type w/my left hand…and i’m not left-handed). 1st felt sharp pain when i was reaching under sink w/rt hand, cleaning; then worse pulling laundry out of dryer. was just in upper shoulder; now neck. i sit @ computer all day. ow.</p>
<p>I had good results with steroid injections a few years ago. But over time, the disc in my neck completely degenerated. This resulted in the formation of bone spurs, one so large that it began to compress my spinal cord-this caused right sided numbness/weakness going from my right arm all the way down to my right leg and foot. I had no choice but to have surgery.</p>
<p>Sometimes therapy and medicines work; other times, they just slow the process down but don’t cure it. I don’t blame you for wanting to do everything in your power to avoid further degeneration/surgery. Good luck!</p>
<p>I had pretty good luck with PT (my issue was numbness and tingling, not really pain). The most memorable thing was a gizmo that actually stretches your neck.</p>
<p>Use your favorite search engine and search for Esther Gokhale or The Gokhale Method. She has some YouTube videos on line as well as a 40+ minute YouTube of a lecture to Google employees about posture and how to sit.</p>
<p>She also has a book available on Amazon.</p>
<p>When she came to my city I signed up for her weekend seminar. It was invaluable.</p>
<p>All this talk about proper posture at the computer makes me nervous about our children’s spine/neck health. I know my computer posture got worse when I got my bifocals.</p>
<p>Kajon - Esther uses a lot of visuals in her presentation - you can see them in the Google Authors You Tube Video. She points out how many people round their shoulders due to leaning forward at the computer. She also points out how many people do the same when driving. She has some very simple resets one can do while sitting. I do not remember, but I think she talks about that reset in the Google Authors video. She definitely writes about it in her book.</p>
<p>It is important to keep the shoulders open as rounding them can decrease circulation in the blood flow to the lower arm. </p>
<p>I have had neck pain on and off for 10 years. Had a couple of epidural injections which helped but it’s an inconvenient and expensive procedure. Now every 6 months or during acute episodes, I get trigger point injections…not with steroid which has side effects but with lidocaine. I see a physiatrist.
Stretching and icing neck muscles help, as well as ibuprofen and hydrocodone. I’ve tried long courses of acupunctures, massages and they didn’t help.</p>
<p>In addition, not lifting anything heavy is a must. That’s why I check my luggage and no public transportation to and from airports during my frequent travels. If I try to save a few dollars on those, I pay 100X in pain and treatments when I come home.</p>
<p>I had recurring flare-ups with a pinched nerve since age of about fifteen. The problem remained relatively dormant for about 30 years (occasional twinge or stiff neck), but it really came on gangbusters in 2007. Radiating pain beginning in my left shoulder and gradually over weeks moving down into my elbow joint and even wrist followed. My left arm became almost unbearable and deep sleep became a distant memory.</p>
<p>I tried physical therapy for about 60 days, 3 times a week. It was somewhat effective at the beginning, but less so as therapy continued. Surgery was recommended, and frankly I was so tired of being in pain I wholeheartedly agreed to go under the knife.</p>
<p>What a difference. I knew as soon as I awoke from anesthesia that things were different. The doctor said that as soon as he had relieved the compression on the nerve it was as if the nerve took a breath of relief. I have had zero pain since surgery.</p>