hi, thank-you for providing the brief history of you. A thorough clinical neuromuscular assessment is advised As you have a neck pain and shoulder too, by your history I understand that you have a degenerative disc disease of the cervical spine. In this condition the pain travels the course of the nerve and leads to weakness of the muscles it supplies. Taking and MRI will help assist to understand the level of disc degenerative disease and also the nerve impingement. Also, undergoing physical therapy like - Therapeutic ultrasound therapy and TENS therapy should help reduce the Pain. Avoid taking traction as it may lead to increase in the intra-muscular tension and lead to headache or such abnormal muscular symptoms. With Therapeutic ultrasound therapy and TENS therapy the pain and inflammation can be controlled. Also some static neck mucle strengthening exercises and some shoulder girdle Strengthening exercises will work better as per the evidence of research. In my clinical practice such cases respond well to physical therapy post accurate clinical assessment and therapy. We avoid traction due to certain factors involved. Regards Jay Indravadan Patel