How to determine if I have muscle pain or C7 nerve pain
The simplest way to tell the difference between muscle and nerve pain is that muscle pain happens from an injury. Muscle pain will get better over time as the muscle heals, but can get aggravated from overuse. Muscle pain is usually localized.
C7 nerve pain will be more consistent, even when you are at rest, can be a sharper pain or even present as a dull ache. C7 nerve pain can come and go just by the position of your head and neck or how you slept the night before. C7 nerve pain can be localized, but can also radiate or change locations depending on which aspect of the nerve is being irritated by the spine.
As a Linwood chiropractor at Fresh Start Chiropractic we have the ability to determine if your pain is from muscle, nerve, or a combination of both.
The thyroid and the C7 nerve relationship
There are multiple nerves that control and coordinate the function and needs of the thyroid. The healthier the nerve communication, which is determined by the health of the spine the nerves go through, will ultimately be a major factor in the health of the thyroid.
What to do about shoulder and arm pain and weakness
Emergency situations should be dealt with immediately. If you have these warning signs or are in doubt, always error on the side of caution.
Warning Signs from https://www.heart.org/-/media/Files/Health-Topics/Heart-Attack/Heart-Attack-warning-signs-infographic.pdf:
- Chest discomfort. Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center of the chest that lasts more than a few minutes – or it may go away and then return. It can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain.
- Discomfort in other areas of the upper body. Symptoms can include pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.
- Shortness of breath. This can occur with or without chest discomfort.
- Other signs. Other possible signs include breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.
Home remedies can be utilized once emergency concerns have been put to rest.
A list of home remedies include:
- Rest, including stopping any physical activities that may have caused the problem.
- Make changes to pillows, chairs, or anything in your everyday that could be promoting bad health to your spine, nerves, and muscles.
- Once the pain has begun to reduce, and as long as movement doesn’t aggravate the pain, light stretching or muscle therapy tools can be used, with caution, to see if they provide relief to the injured area.
Chiropractic evaluations can help determine the health of your spine and its ability to protect the nerve and the nerve pathways. An irritated nerve can cause symptoms in whichever areas those nerves innervate. In the case of the C7 nerves that would include the neck, thyroid, shoulder blade, shoulder, arm, forearm, hand, and fingers. Chiropractic adjustments by a Linwood chiropractor can reduce pain by restoring health to the spine.
Where and how would you adjust the C7 bone of the spine
There are many techniques that can be used to adjust the C7 bone of the cervical spine. The picture above illustrates an instrument adjustment, which does not require any bending, turning or twisting if that is a concern for you.
Once an evaluation has been performed and x-rays have been analyzed a chiropractor can determine if the spine is the cause of your nerve irritation and provide you with a care plan to restore health and protection to the C7 nerve.
Conclusion
Pain in the shoulder blade and arm can be caused by muscle problems or nerve irritation. Once you have eliminated all possible emergency scenarios, it’s time to get working on restoring health to the injured area.
Restoring health by working on your spine and muscles will help you not only resolve discomfort in a shorter period of time, but will also provide you with a better long-term solution than just pain relief alone.
Only treating symptoms and allowing underlying health problems to persist can often lead to bigger health problems years later.
So, learning the origin of your shoulder blade and arm pain and restoring health to those areas will give you an opportunity to take a bad situation and use to avoid pitfalls and learn how to care for your body parts to help them last longer.
If you have any questions and would like help from a Linwood chiropractor, we are Fresh Start Chiropractic. You can call us at 609-926-8900.