Neck Pain, Arlington Texas
Neck Pain: Which Nerve Is Involved Changes Everything
The short answer
When neck pain spreads into the shoulder, arm or upper back, it usually means a nerve root is being compressed or irritated. The C7 root is involved in more than half of all cases and C6 in roughly a quarter. Over 85 percent of acute cases settle within eight to twelve weeks without any specific treatment. The examination exists to work out which root is involved, and to catch the small number of cases that point at the spinal cord rather than a nerve root.
Read This First
The Signs That Mean Hospital, Not Chiropractor
Hand clumsiness and unsteadiness on your feet do not feel like emergencies. With neck symptoms, they are the two most important things on this page.
If You Notice Any of These Warning Signs, Please Seek Emergency Room Care Right Away.
These can indicate pressure on the spinal cord itself rather than a single nerve root, which is a different and more urgent problem.
- Clumsiness in the hands, dropping things, or difficulty with buttons and keys
- Unsteadiness when walking, or a change in your balance
- Urinary urgency, or any change in bladder control
- Weakness in an arm or hand that is getting worse over days, or numbness that is spreading further down the limb
- Symptoms down both arms, or several nerve levels at once, particularly after an injury
- Fever, night sweats or unexplained weight loss alongside the pain
- Pain that is constant and unrelated to position, or wakes you every night
- A suppressed immune system, or tenderness directly over the bones of the neck
- New neck pain with a history of cancer
- Neck pain following a significant fall, collision or whiplash injury
If you are unsure, call 817-800-7136 and describe it. You will be told plainly where to go, and if it is not here you will be told that too.
Cervical Radiculopathy. StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf (National Institutes of Health): names hand clumsiness, gait instability, urinary urgency and bladder dysfunction as signs of myelopathy, alongside fever, night sweats, unexplained weight loss, immunosuppression, persistent pain at rest, vertebral tenderness, and bilateral or multi-level symptoms following trauma.
Full text: Cervical Radiculopathy, StatPearls.
The Mechanism
Why It Runs Into Your Arm
Cervical radiculopathy happens when a nerve root in the neck is compressed or irritated, and the pain then spreads well beyond the neck itself, into the arm, chest, shoulder or upper back. That is why people describe a neck problem while pointing at their elbow.
The C7 root is involved in more than half of all cases. C6 accounts for roughly a quarter. Between them that is three quarters of everything that walks in.
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf (National Institutes of Health): the C7 nerve root is most frequently affected, with more than half of all cases at that level, and roughly a quarter involve C6.
Full text: Cervical Radiculopathy, StatPearls.
Your age changes the likely cause
In the thirties and forties, disc trauma and herniation are the most frequent causes. Disc degeneration becomes the most common cause in the fifties and sixties, and in the seventies it is more often narrowing of the opening the nerve passes through, from arthritic change. Same symptom, different cause, different sensible next step.
This is where applied kinesiology earns its place. Dr. Monet is certified in it, and manual muscle testing lets her assess how your body responds under load, muscle by muscle and joint by joint. It is a skill she trained for specifically, and very few clinics in Arlington offer it.
What To Expect
Most Of It Settles
Over 85 percent of acute cervical radiculopathy resolves within eight to twelve weeks without any specific treatment at all.
StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf (National Institutes of Health): over 85 percent of acute cervical radiculopathy resolves without any specific treatments within 8 to 12 weeks. A systematic review found that at 3 years, 83 percent regain satisfactory function. Surgery produces faster pain reduction in the first year, but functional differences narrow by 12 months.
Full text: Cervical Radiculopathy, StatPearls.
Those figures are on this page deliberately. They set an honest expectation, and they make the useful question clearer: not whether it will settle, but whether yours is following that pattern, and what about how you sit, work and load your neck made it happen in the first place.
Conservative options described in the clinical literature for this problem include structured physical therapy, anti-inflammatory medication for one to two weeks, short corticosteroid courses, a soft cervical pillow, a collar for brief periods, and continuing normal activity with daily exercise. Which of those fits you is a question the examination answers.
At The Clinic
What Happens When You Come In
You describe the path
Where it starts and where it travels. Into the thumb side or the middle finger, the shoulder blade or the outside of the arm. That path is what points at a level.
A thorough examination
Movement, strength, reflexes and manual muscle testing, plus the specific tests that load or unload a nerve root to see what changes.
You get told what she found
In plain language. If anything points at the spinal cord rather than a nerve root, you get sent for a medical opinion the same day.
Treatment, if it fits
Aimed at the mechanical problem behind the symptom. No promises about the outcome, no contract, and a straight answer if it is not working.
Two honest limits
There is no imaging in this building, so an X ray or MRI means a referral. And there are no walk-ins, so a visit has to be booked.
Common Questions
Neck Pain, Asked And Answered
Which nerve is usually the problem?
The C7 nerve root is involved in more than half of all cases and C6 in roughly a quarter, per the StatPearls clinical reference hosted by the National Institutes of Health. Which one it is changes the pattern of symptoms and what the examination looks for.
How long will it take to settle?
Over 85 percent of acute cases resolve within eight to twelve weeks without any specific treatment. At three years, 83 percent have regained satisfactory function.
I have tingling in my fingers. Is that serious?
Tingling along a specific path is common with an irritated nerve root and is usually not an emergency. Clumsiness in the hands, dropping things, unsteadiness on your feet or a change in bladder control are different, and those need medical assessment the same day.
Should I use a collar?
A cervical collar for brief periods appears among the conservative options in the clinical literature, and so does a soft cervical pillow for sleeping. Whether either helps your case is a question for the examination rather than a web page.
Do I need an MRI?
Usually not, and there is no imaging in this building. If your examination points at something that needs an image, you get referred for one rather than adjusted anyway.
Do you take walk-ins?
No. Every visit is booked. Call 817-800-7136 and describe what is happening.
Sources
Where The Numbers On This Page Come From
- Cervical Radiculopathy. StatPearls, NCBI Bookshelf, National Institutes of Health. The C7 and C6 involvement figures, the age-related causes, the over 85 percent resolution within 8 to 12 weeks, the 83 percent satisfactory function at 3 years, the myelopathy and other red flag features, and the conservative management options.
- Manual Therapy for Recent-Onset or Persistent Neck Pain: A Review of Clinical Effectiveness and Guidelines. NCBI Bookshelf. Held as the reference for manual therapy among the options considered for neck pain.
Get It Examined Properly
Call and describe what is happening, or book online and pick a time.
3825 W Green Oaks Blvd, Suite 710, Arlington, TX 76016. Appointments only.