What Causes Pain Radiating Down The Arm After A Neck Injury Indicate?

Posted on Sat, 17 May 2014

Question: I fell and hurt my neck on Sat. April 26th. The pain continued for two days, and has gone away from my neck, but now have a constant sharp stabbing pain that radiates down my right arm. Have been taking Tylenol and Motrin, but they don't help, would like to find some relief. What should I do?

Answered by Dr. Karl Logan (13 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Cervical radiculopathy

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

Thanks for your question.

The pain radiating down your arm sounds like pain that is generated from nerve entrapement. This can be diagnosed on an MRI scan of your cervical spine. It is usually caused by an intervertbral disc prolapse in your neck that presses on the nerve root. The symptoms do in most cases improve with time but can take 6-8 weeks. In the interim antiinflammatory medication, such as ibuprofen, and neuromodulating medication, such as gabapentin, can be of therapeutic benefit. Physiotherapy is often also helpful at regaining lost motion and strengthening. If your symptoms do not improve or you were to develop any numbness or weakness then CT guided nerve root injections or surgery may be warranted. A spine surgeon either orthopaedic or neurosurgery would be consulted for surgical management.

I hope this information is useful to you and that you find relief from your pain soon.

Best wishes

Note: For further queries, consult a joint and bone specialist, an Orthopaedic surgeon. Book a Call now.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Yogesh D