Can the neck cause shoulder pain? Many doctors have found that shoulder pain can not only come from injury to the shoulder itself, but from injury to the neck as well. It is often hard to understand that pain in one area can come from an entirely different area, and this is one example of that very thing.
Many people understand that pain in one area can be indicative of problems somewhere else in the body. One of the best known examples of this phenomenon is people who are having a heart attack. In the movies or on TV, we’ve all seen people grab their chest when experiencing a heart attack, but we may not have been aware that often times people experience pain in the left arm/shoulder when a heart attack is imenent. So we’ve also seen actors grab their left arm and we knew something ominous was about to occur.
This not only occurs with the heart, but there is a surprising correlation between shoulder pain and injury to the neck.
The neck is made up of seven cervical vertebra and there are nerves that exit from the spine and travel from the neck into the shoulder, arm and down into the hand and fingers. Often times, people with an injury to the neck may not notice neck pain, but they soon experience pain in the arm and shoulder for no apparent reason.
Here is when it’s important to understand what happens in the body. Our bodies are made to eliminate pain and do everything possible to prevent pain and injury to any parts of the body. Since the neck is important to supporting the head and brain, the neck muscles will do everything possible to protect the delicate nerves of the spine and in so doing, can start to contract or pull on the parts of the neck that were injured. This pulling prevents the neck for becoming more injured and it works like a brace. The problem is the nerves contine to travel from the neck into the shoulders and down into the arms as well. This causes pain further down in the body than where the injury actually is coming from.
Another way to think about it is picture a broken arm. Let’s say your right arm is broken. You put it in a cast and wait for it to heal. The trouble is you still have to function. You have to put on clothes, and eat food and work on the computer, but with the right arm not able to move – your LEFT arm starts doing all the work. Soon, you are experiencing pain in the left arm from performing actvities that you would not normally perform. Let me ask you – does the pain indicate that the LEFT arm is the problem? Not at all – the BROKEN right arm in the problem but the pain is showing up on the COMPLETE opposite side because the body is compensating for the problem.
This is what often can happen in injuries to the neck. If you are experiencing pain in the shoulder and you’ve tried treating the shoulder itself but the pain is not going away, maybe it’s time to look somewhere else. Check out the neck and see if your shoulder pain goes away.
If you have more questions – feel free to contact us at http://backpaingreensboro.com
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