A Gentle NUCCA Chiropractor
in Milwaukee Area

Where is it coming from?

First thing you should know about neck and shoulder pain is where the origination is.

The upper cervical spine is also responsible for the normal functioning of the spinal cord. If there is a misalignment there, there is a high likelihood of neck and shoulder pain (with or without radiating pain/numbness down the arms) due to the torqueing of the spinal cord.

Could it be the shoulder, could it be the neck? Could it possibly be the ribs or is it a combination of two or all of those scenarios? In rare cases could it be the kidney or liver problems? Or could it be the heart?

Neck: The bundle of nerves that exit out of the middle to lower neck vertebrae (bones) or C5,C6,C7, feed your shoulder, arms and hands with information from your brain. In other words your brain controls your shoulder and arms via this bundle of nerves. If the nerves get stretched or pinched because these vertebrae are slightly out of place (due to an accident, fall or traumatic incident) then there could be pain, numbness, weakness going down the arm(s) and/or creating carpal tunnel symptoms.

Shoulder: The shoulder itself could be slightly out of joint. Not necessarily completely dislocated but just slightly dislocated. The result will be again pain going down the arm(s) and creating symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Ribs: Misalignments of the ribs could also pull on the bundle of nerves that exit out of the neck or could put pressure on the brachial artery that runs down the arm. This could cause numbness, soreness and even temperature differences down the arm(s) and also create chest pains.

Kidney/Liver: Kidney and liver problems could send referred pain up to the right shoulder however usually there is no pain down the arm.

Heart: Heart attacks sometimes create discomfort and pain running down the left arm. This usually is accompanied with chest pain, fatigue, perspiration and heavy breathing.

Solution: If there are misalignments in the neck, shoulder and ribs, they need to be adjusted and corrected before any physical therapy. Taking medication may take the edge off the pain but will not address the underlying cause of the problem. Most medication also cause stomach, liver and kidney problems that may take a long time to heal.

After the biomechanics are corrected, there are also certain foods and food supplements that will help the accelerate the healing process.