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Pins and needles is the common name for what the medical world call paresthesia. The feeling of tingling in the hands or feet is a symptom of nerve root irritation. This nerve irritation can be due to nerve pressure in the neck or the back - or it can be due to pressure on a nerve in a more peripheral part of the body, such as the wrist or the foot and ankle.
If a nerve root or peripheral nerve is subjected to sustained pressure then the feeling of pins and needles will develop in the skin supplied by that nerve. We are all familiar with this when we sit too long on a hard chair or bench and our foot "goes to sleep". When we get up and start to move again the pins and needles feeling starts in the limb and lasts for several minutes.
Nerve pressure or nerve root irritation will cause pins and needles, or pain, or weakness - and often all three will happen at the same time or within a few days of each other.
Carpal tunnel syndrome is the commonest example of peripheral nerve pressure when the median nerve is compressed as it passes through the carpal tunnel at the wrist. Pins and needles in the thumb and palm is the commonest symptom of carpal tunnel syndrome.
Labels: carpal tunnel syndrome, joint pain, nerve pain shoulder, paresthesia, pins and needles, whiplash
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Shoulder and back pain can be closely related - sometimes one leads to another and sometimes the two share a common source related to nerve entrapment.
The shoulder joint and all of its muscles and soft tissues are derived from the same part of the embryo as the fifth vertebra and nerve of the neck. This means that lower neck pain and shoulder area pain can be directly related.
Sometimes
shoulder pain and back pain between the shoulder blades can also occur. Irritation of the lower segments of the neck will typically send pain down into the area between the shoulder blades - this pain is called referred pain. It is often dull and aching in quality and made worse by movements of the neck. This type of shoulder related back pain often causes trigger points to form in the muscles and these can be felt as acutely tender spots.
Labels: back pain, frozen shoulder, pain control, shoulder and back pain, shoulder blade, shoulder nerve, shoulder pain
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Carpal tunnel syndrome and
frozen shoulder problems often seem to occur in the same patients - sometimes at the same time but sometimes many months apart.
Carpal tunnel syndrome is a problem with irritation of the median nerve - one of the main nerves that runs from the forearm into the hand.
The median nerve runs on the palm of the hand side of the forearm - entering the palm of the hand at almost exactly the mid point of your wrist crease. It supplies power to the muscles of the thumb and sensation to the skin of the thumb and the first three fingers - sometimes also to a bit of the fourth or ring finger too. To get into the hand the nerve has to pass through a tunnel of bones and gristle. This tunnel is called the carpal tunnel - so the problem of nerve entrapment there is called
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
The commonest reason for carpal tunnel syndrome to develop is when the median nerve is squeezed in the tunnel. This often happens during pregnancy or in diabetic patients or in those with an under active thyroid gland. Often no cause is found at all - it just seems to start from nowhere and this is called
Idiopathic carpal tunnel syndrome.
Sometimes however, carpal tunnel syndrome can arise as a later consequence of frozen shoulder. The median nerve arises from nerve roots that run in the armpit or axilla - just below the shoulder in other words. This group of nerve roots is called the brachial plexus and a good going frozen shoulder can affect the brachial plexus and thus eventually lead to carpal tunnel syndrome.
Labels: carpal tunnel syndrome, cause of frozen shoulder, diabetes joint pain, nerve pain shoulder, shoulder pain
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Does
manipulation for frozen shoulder work?
Manipulation as a treatment for shoulder pain has been around for a long time. The word manipulation can be applied in several different ways.
When we think of shoulder pain in general then physiotherapists will use mobilisation or hands on type manipulation of the shoulder as a means of improving movement range in the joint and thus reducing the symptoms. Osteopaths or chiropractors will do much the same thing - and you might often find that your neck or back is treated at the same time. Not a bad idea actually since shoulder pain and neck pain or upper back pain often go hand in hand.
Manipulation for frozen shoulder is a slightly different issue however. Historically this has been a technique used when the patient is deeply asleep under a general anesthetic and the procedure is performed in an operating theater.
We know that frozen shoulder creates sticky adhesions inside the joint and we think that its these sticky areas that lead to the loss of movement. Manipulation of the shoulder under general anesthetic is a way of trying to force these adhesions apart - thus releasing the stuck shoulder and improving both pain and movement. This type of
frozen shoulder manipulation seems to work but it's a very powerful - almost brutal technique - and there have been several reports in the past of arm bone fractures and other problems.
More modern (and more gentle) approaches include using keyhole surgery to break up the sticky adhesions.
Labels: cause of frozen shoulder, frozen shoulder manipulation, manipulation of the shoulder, shoulder injury, shoulder pain
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The
rotator cuff is the name given to the group of small muscles that stabilise the shoulder when it is in motion.
These rotator cuff muscles are vulnerable to injury and - if torn or if their tendons become inflamed can cause significant shoulder problems.
Treatment of rotator cuff injury can involve either medication, hands on treatment from a physiotherapist or sports therapist, injections or sometimes surgery.
Labels: rotator cuff, rotator cuff tear
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Shoulder nerve pain is not common but it can arise for a number of reasons. The shoulder joint and all the muscles that surround it get their nerve supply from the same part of the spinal cord that supplies the fifth segment of the neck. This is called the C5 segment of the neck.
Pain from the C5 segment of the neck (or from the shoulder joint and the tissues that surround it) is felt from the top of the arm, down over the outer part of the elbow and towards the hand. This type of shoulder nerve pain is called referred pain.
The shoulder nerve is also called the suprascapular nerve - it runs above the spine of the shoulder blade bone - passing through a little notch - to supply the joint and its muscles.
Some specialist doctors can inject this suprascapular shoulder nerve as a treatment for chronic shoulder pain.
Read more about your
shoulders by following the links on these pages
Labels: nerve pain shoulder, rotator cuff pain, shoulder nerve, shoulder pain
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Shoulder Injuries are a common problem for those doctors who see athletes or sports men and women.
The shoulder is a very mobile joint and a shoulder injury can be sustained during a fall or during a throwing action or a tackle in football in rugby.
The challenge for the doctor or physical therapist is to figure out which part of the shoulder anatomy has been injured? The underlying problem might lie in the shoulder muscles, the tendons that join the muscles to the bone, the bursa or within the joint itself.
Injury to the shoulder can trigger a tear in the joint capsule or in the labrum - the tissue that deepens the socket that the head of the humerus sits in.
Read more about how injury can affect the
shoulder by following the links on these pages
Labels: rotator cuff, rotator cuff pain, shoulder injuries, shoulder injury, shoulder tendonitis, shoulder tendons
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Shoulder tendonitis is the name given to the condition where the tendons of the shoulder muscles become inflamed. The suffix "itis" means inflammation - think of tonsillitis, dermatitis, appendicitis and the likes. A tendon is the gristle that joins muscle flesh onto bone so "tendonitis" is inflammation in a tendon.
Shoulder tendonitis can be treated by physical therapy, by acupuncture, by exercises or stretches or sometimes by injection of a steroid.
Rarely
tendonitis at the shoulder can progress or deteriorate into a rotator cuff tear.
Read more about your
shoulders by following the links on this page
Labels: rotator cuff, rotator cuff pain, shoulder pain, shoulder tendonitis, shoulder tendons
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Shoulder Replacement
Shoulder replacement is the name given to the surgical technique of inserting a new artificial shoulder joint into the body.
Shoulder replacement surgery is becoming more and more common and the success rate is now very good. Even though fewer shoulder joints are replaced compared to hips and knees the procedure is rising in popularity for two reasons. Firstly, arthritis in the shoulder is less common than it is in the lower limb joints - and, secondly, fewer surgeons are trained in shoulder replacement techniques at present. New techiques are changing things fast however and
shoulder replacement operations are getting better and better all the time.
If you need help to deal with pain in your
shoulders then follow the links on these pages.
Labels: shoulder joint replacement surgery, shoulder pain, shoulder replacement, shoulder surgery
Are you struggling with shoulder pain?
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Shoulder Exercises
Shoulder exercises could help you deal better with your shoulder pain problems.
Exercises can help with a variety of shoulder conditions - from rotator cuff tendonitis to frozen shoulder.
If you think you need shoulder exercises for your painful shoulders or your neck and shoulder pain then you have the option of seeking input from a physical therapist or trying to learn the techniques for yourself from a book or a DVD. I would always recommend the former. Trying to learn to do shoulder exercises on your own is very difficult and you are likely to end up doing them wrongly.
Follow the links on these pages for more information about exercises for shoulder pains
Labels: rotator cuff, shoulder exercises, shoulders
