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jodeelynn · 12-06-2011, 07:37 AM

I injured my neck, initially the pain was across the back of my neck with pain on my right shoulder and right side of the neck. I went to PT and had an MRI, the MRI showed a herniation of C5 and C6 on the left side. After 2 weeks of PT, the right shoulder pain was lessened, but now I have severe pain on the left side of my neck, with pain and numbness in my left arm and hand. Has anyone ever heard of pain on the right when the herniation was on the left? Wondering if it could have been pain from compensating??? Any thoughts?

jennybyc · 12-06-2011, 08:53 AM

Most likely the initial right sided pain was from muscles that were strained. You'll notice the big difference is that on the right, you had no "nerve symptoms" such as numbness. Now you are feeling the result of the disk herniation and that is what is causing the numbness and other radiating symptoms on the left. Muscle pain tends to stay in one place whereas nerve pain tends to radiate down the length of the nerve.

Time to be evaluated by a spine specialist, whether it be an orthopedic surgeon who does only spine work or a neurosurgeon who does only spines. Once nerves are affected, you need a really experienced doc to make sure you don't end up with permanent nerve damage.

good luck............Jenny(fused C3 to T1)

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