When should you worry about arm pain? Do you have shoulder pain, shoulder blade pain, elbow pain, hand pain? Any numbness? How do you qualify the pain? Sharp, burning, achy? All these things matter when determining where the pain is coming from.

Let’s talk about radiating pain down one arm. The arm and scapula is supplied by the brachial plexus. The brachial plexus is a large bundle of nerves that run down the arm and scapula and innervates the muscles. Issues with pain, muscle weakness and numbness can be largely contributed to the brachial plexus. This can be due to posture, accidents and injury to the neck, looking down consistently, or a number of other things.

Progression of nerve impingement typically start with: numbness and tingling once in a while –> pain –> muscle weakness and decreased grip strength –> constant numbness/tingling or pain.

When treating true brachial plexus issues it’s important to work on both the back of the neck and the front of the neck on the involved side. Adjusting the neck and upper thoracic (back) is important to help with nerve involvement. We want to take as much pressure off the nerves as possible each treatment. Also, working the muscles that the nerves innervate help with the pain that you are experiencing as well. Tight muscles can also pull the spine back out of position, so helping the muscles relax is an important part of the healing/pain relief stage.

Anatomy

The brachial plexus is formed by the ventral rami (roots) of the lower 4 cervical nerves (C5-C8) and the first thoracic nerve (T1). The plexus is responsible for the motor innervation of all of the muscles of the upper extremity.

Chiropractic

If you leave pain, thinking it will go away, two things can happen. One: it will go away, but next time it comes back the pain, numbness, grip strength will be much worse. Two: it won’t go away and will only continue to get worse. The longer you let an issue go the more treatment you will need. Keep that in mind when determining when you want to get help.

If you have any questions about how chiropractic can help, give us or a chiropractic near you a call! You only have one spine and it’s important to keep it healthy!

~Dr. Lacey~
Carder Chiropractic Clinic, INC.
El Reno, OK 73036