Pinched Nerve In The Neck
A pinched nerve in the neck is also called cervical radiculopathy. It means that a nerve in the neck, at a point where it branches off from the spinal cord, is being compressed by the surrounding bones, muscles, or other tissues.
It can be caused by a traumatic injury, such as from sports or an automobile accident, especially if the injury results in a herniated disk. It may also arise from the normal wear and tear of aging.
Symptoms include sharp, burning pain with numbness and tingling from the neck to the shoulder, as well as weakness and numbness into the arm and hand.
Diagnosis is made through patient history, physical examination, and simple neurological tests to check the reflexes. Imaging such as x-ray, CT scan, or MRI may be done, as well as electromyography to measure nerve impulses in the muscles.
A pinched nerve in the neck often improves with simply a few days or weeks of rest. Physical therapy, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and steroid injections into the spine can all be very helpful.
Rarity: Common
Top Symptoms: pain in one shoulder, spontaneous shoulder pain, pain that radiates down arm, pain in the back of the neck, severe shoulder pain
Urgency: Primary care doctor
Left Shoulder Pain Diagnosis
Here’s a quick summary to help you work out what might be causing your left shoulder pain:
- Aching Pain: usually indicates a bone or soft tissue problem often described as a nagging toothache e.g.shoulder bursitis, impingement syndrome
- Aching After Activity: usually indicates a muscular problem e.g.rotator cuff tear
- Sharp/Stabbing Pain: structures catching on each other or getting squashed such as ligaments or tendons e.g. biceps tendonitis, supraspinatus tendonitis, bankart lesions, SLAP tear, impingement syndrome
- Shoulder Stiffness: arm movements limited by stiffness rather than pain typical indicates frozen shoulder
- Burning Pain and/or Altered Sensation: usually indicates a nerve problem e.g. nerve pain or brachial neuritis
- Obvious Deformity: most likely due to a broken bone e.g. fractured collarbone or shoulder fracture
- Constant Pain: 24/7 pain that doesn’t go away may indicate a heart attack,shoulder fracture or brachial neuritis
- Feeling Unwell: may indicate an underlying medical issue e.g. heart attack, stroke, pancreatitis
When Should I Seek Medical Help
You should contact your doctor if you experience fever, inability to move your shoulder, lasting bruising, heat and tenderness around the joint, or pain that persists beyond a few weeks of home treatment.
If your shoulder pain is sudden and not related to an injury, call 911 immediately. It may be a sign of a heart attack. Other signs of a heart attack include:
- trouble breathing
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Trying For Another Pregnancy
It is normally recommended that you wait for at least 2 menstrual cycles before trying for another pregnancy, as this will allow time for your fallopian tubes to recover . However, many women are not emotionally ready to try for another pregnancy so soon.
Your chances of having a successful pregnancy will depend on the underlying health of your fallopian tubes.
If you cannot conceive in the normal way then fertility treatment such as in-vitro fertilisation may be an option.
IVF treatment is where an egg is fertilised by a sperm outside the womb and, after fertilisation, the embryo is surgically implanted into the womb.
Have Any Celebrities Had An Ectopic Pregnancy

Helen Flanagan has revealed that her morning sickness was so bad that doctors worried she was suffering from an ectopic pregnancy.
The Coronation Street star, 27, has been hit with hyperemesis gravidarum the same condition Kate Middleton suffers from, and says that while visiting her Celtic player boyfriend Scott Sinclair, 28, the sickness was so bad that there were serious concerns for her and the baby.
She told OK!: At one point the Celtic club medic came to see me and I was getting very bad pains.
There was some concern I might be having anectopic pregnancy, but Id actually got a water infection.
I was very dehydrated I couldnt keep anything down because I was being sick all the time.
I did end up in hospital here in Glasgow. I was there for a good few hours and they put me on a drip. I had some scans, fluids and anti-sickness injections.
In 2016 Charlotte Crosby opened up about suffering an ectopic pregnancy while Gary Beadle was filming Ex On The Beach in Thailand.
The Geordie Shore star went through the devastating ordeal and revealed doctors told her she could have died.
Speaking to Heat magazine, Charlotte revealed how she had to be rushed to hospital for surgery after suffering an ectopic pregnancy where the foetus develops outside the womb.
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Reducing Shoulder Tip Pain Following Laparoscopic Surgery
The safety and scientific validity of this study is the responsibility of the study sponsor and investigators. Listing a study does not mean it has been evaluated by the U.S. Federal Government. Read our disclaimer for details. |
Verified June 2010 by Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan. Recruitment status was: RecruitingFirst Posted : June 3, 2010Last Update Posted : June 3, 2010 |
- Study Details
Laparoscopic surgery is becoming a major procedure, owing to smaller incisions, shorter hospitalizations, and less post-operative pain as compared with traditional laparotomies. However, there is marked interindividual variability of post-operative shoulder-tip pain following laparoscopic surgery. The incidence of shoulder pain varies from 35% to 80% and ranges from mild to severe. In some cases, it has been reported to last more than 72 hours after surgery.
The hypothesis of post-operative shoulder-tip pain is that carbon dioxide induced phrenic nerve irritation causes referred pain to C4. Therefore, the investigators should try to reduce carbon dioxide retention in the pelvic cavity.
Procedure: Pulmonary recruitment maneuverProcedure: Intraperitoneal normal salineProcedure: Control group | Phase 3 |
When To Be Concerned About Shoulder Pain
It can take some time for shoulder pain to settle, perhaps weeks or months. In general, if your shoulder pain has not begun to settle in a week or two, or if it worsens over time, then it may be worthwhile seeing an experienced doctor or health practitioner.
If you find that you need stronger medication to manage your shoulder pain, discuss this with your doctor. You may need a referral to a specialist.
Note: Shoulder pain or discomfort around the front of one or both of the shoulders can be a sign of a heart attack. It is often described as an ache, heaviness or pressure sensation spreading from the chest to the shoulders. This requires immediate medical attention. Call 000 immediately if you are experiencing these symptoms.
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Ways To Relieve Pain From A Neck Problem
Whether you have chronic pain in your shoulder, your neck or both, dont wait to see an expert. Having a neck or shoulder specialist evaluate your complaints will determine where the main problem is and will get you started on the correct treatment, says Dr. Ricchetti.
What Causes An Ectopic Pregnancy
Often the causes of an ectopic pregnancy arent clear, but it can occur if there is a problem with the fallopian tubes such as them being blocked.
Several conditions can increase the likelihood of it occurring:
- Smoking
- Older age
- Pelvic inflammatory disease
- A history of ectopic pregnancies
- If youve had fertility treatments like IVF
- Previous surgery on the fallopian tubes
- Becoming pregnant while using an intrauterine device as birth control
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How Does An Inflamed Gallbladder Affect My Shoulders
When your gallbladder is inflamed and swollen, it irritates your phrenic nerve. Your phrenic nerve stretches from the abdomen, through the chest, and into your neck. Each time you eat a fatty meal, it aggravates the nerve and causes referred pain in your right shoulder blade.
Recurring right shoulder pain is a crucial indicator for our team to investigate your gallbladder to see if there is an infection or a blockage.
What Causes Pain On Tip Of Shoulder
There could be many causes for pain on the tip of the shoulder. It could be subacromial bursitis, peri-arthritis shoulder, biceps tendinitis, and many more which we are going to discuss.
However, they all differ in nature of pain, shoulder movement restriction mechanism, their causes are different, they all have a different history.
In this article, I am going to break down all the possible cause of tip of shoulder pain with the sign and symptoms to help finding yours.
So, lets get started.
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Real Stories About Experiencing Heart Attack
“I never connect nausea, shoulder pain, heart attack together. However, one day I was cutting the grass one afternoon and walked to the house to drink water and had a sit. Then I felt nauseated and sudden pain that spread to my arm, which then curled up and could not uncurl. I had my grandson call 911 and was flown directly to a cardiac hospital after the ambulance crew said I was in full ST elevation myocardial infraction. I coded 4 times, but I recovered and was released the next day.”
“I am 58 and 3 weeks ago I had a heart attack. For a month I had symptoms like pain in my jaw, shoulder, face, arm, back and a burning in my chest. All these I felt on the left side of my body. The pain would always ease up, but one night I woke up and the pain did not go away. I took aspirin and I started throwing up, i was rushed to ER where they told me I was having a heart attack. I got treated and I now am home.”
“My mother complained about shoulder pain. Not much attention was paid and her joints ached as well but she thought it was flu. The day she experience chest pain was the day she passed out because of a major heart attack.”
Shoulder Pain Without Injury: 6 Common Causes

Joshua M. Zimmerman, M.D. contributes to topics such as Orthopedics.
Your shoulder is killing you, but you cant think of anything you did to make it hurt.
I didnt fall.
I didnt get into a fight.
I didnt go all out at the gym.
Well, there are several conditions that cause discomfort but arent caused by a traumatic activity. How can you identify whats wrong and how to make your shoulder feel better?
Joshua Zimmerman, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon with Hackensack Meridian Health Medical Group, helps by sharing six of the most common causes of shoulder pain without injury that he sees in his patients regularly.
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Why Does An Ectopic Pregnancy Happen
In a normal pregnancy an egg is fertilised by sperm in one of the fallopian tubes, which connect the ovaries to the womb. The fertilised egg then moves into the womb and implants itself into the womb lining , where it grows and develops.
An ectopic pregnancy occurs when a fertilised egg implants itself outside the womb. It most commonly occurs in a fallopian tube , often as the result of damage to the fallopian tube or the tube not working properly.
Less commonly , an ectopic pregnancy can occur in an ovary, in the abdominal space or in the cervix .
In many cases, it’s not clear why a woman has an ectopic pregnancy. Sometimes it happens when there’s a problem with the fallopian tubes, such as them being narrow or blocked.
The following are all associated with an increased risk of ectopic pregnancy:
- increasing age the risk is highest for pregnant women who are aged 35-40
In around half of all cases, there are no obvious risk factors.
When To Be Concerned
It can take some time for shoulder pain to settle, perhaps weeks or months. In general if the shoulder pain has not begun to settle in a week or two then it would be worthwhile seeing an experienced doctor or health practitioner. Worsening pain over time should also be assessed by a doctor.
If you find that stronger opioid medication is needed to manage your shoulder pain, discuss this with your doctor. You may need a referral to a specialist and/or further investigations.
Note: Its important to note that shoulder pain or discomfort around the front of one or both of the shoulders can be a sign of a heart attack. Its often described as an ache, heaviness or pressure sensation spreading from the chest to the shoulders. This requires immediate medical attention. Call 000 immediately if you are experiencing these symptoms.
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Common Causes Of Shoulder Pain In Pregnancy
Shoulder pain during pregnancy can happen at any time, and for many reasons. Most of the time, its normal.
It happens due to changes to your muscles and joints. Causes can include straining your back, sleeping in a funny position, not having good posture, and standing for too long.
Typical shoulder pain during pregnancy might feel like stiffness or achiness. It shouldnt feel like severe or stabbing pain.
Causes Of Subacromial Bursitis
Any repetitive friction/ trauma or direct impact on tip of shoulder cause impact in the subacromial bursa which results in subacromial bursitis. The following figure simplifies it.
There are several contributing factors to developing this condition. Some of these factors include stiffness of shoulder complex joint, secondary to calcific tendinitis of the supraspinatus tendon, poor posture, sports injury during tennis, swimming, badminton. Etc.
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Neck Pain Referred To The Shoulder
Lennard Funk, 2012
Pain felt in the shoulder area can sometimes be coming from your neck. This is because the nerves and muscles that arise from your neck pass through your shoulder on their way down the arm. The nerves from your neck also travel down your arm . Thus neck pain may extend down your arm.
Pain from your neck is usually felt mainly at the top of your shoulder over your trapezius muscle, whilst pain from your shoulder is normally felt over your upper arm.
The pain is NOT made worse with movement of your shoulder, so your shoulder moves freely without aggravating the pain. This is the simplest way to know that the pain is not from your shoulder, but from your neck!However, it can become confusing because many people with neck-related shoulder pain also develope weakness of their shoulder rotator cuff muscles and get subacromial impingement of the shoulder. It takes an experienced clinician to help you to differentiate the two sources of pain.
If the pain is from your neck joints and ligaments the pain is often a dull ache. If the pain is from a trapped nerve then the pain can be very, very severe. You may also get pins and needles or numbness in your hand. This is typically in the distribution of the affected nerve .
An MRI scan of your neck is the most useful investigation to see the inner anatomy of your neck and any problems therein.
The common causes of shoulder pain from the neck are:
Signs And Symptoms Of Shoulder Pain
There may be many causes of shoulder pain. They all have their own unique set of symptoms.
People with shoulder pain can experience pain deep in the shoulder joint, in the back or the front of the shoulder and the upper part of the arm. Sometimes the pain in the shoulder can be described as a catching pain. The location and type of pain is likely to relate to the structure causing the pain.
In some conditions there may be reduced movement, and moving the shoulder may cause you to feel pain. A feeling of weakness of the shoulder/upper arm is also common.
Depending on the condition, there may be a sensation of the joint slipping out and back in to the joint socket, or the shoulder can become completely dislodged . Some people may experience sensations of pins and needles and burning pain. This is more likely to be associated with nerves from the neck than the shoulder joint itself.
Lack of movement after a shoulder dislocation is usually due to pain. Complete rotator cuff tears and injury to the axillary nerve both cause weakness in moving the arm away from the body. These problems require close clinical examination.
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Preventing Shoulder Pain In Pregnancy
You wont be able to prevent most aches and pains during pregnancy. Occasional shoulder pain is a normal part of pregnancy.
But you may be able to help prevent serious complications like preeclampsia. Talk to your doctor about the best ways for you to control your blood pressure during pregnancy.
Tips to balance your blood pressure during pregnancy include:
- drinking plenty of water every day
- reducing salt in your diet
- adding more protein to your diet
- putting your feet up when you can
- avoiding standing for too long
- getting light exercise everyday