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The term radiculopathy generally means a problem with the radial nerve root, where it comes out the side of the spine, not necessarily the cord itself.  But by all means, go see a top-notch neurosurgeon.

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She also pointed out

yesterday that I only had 1 of 3 tendons inflamed. << How does a masseuse tell this without an MRI?

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The messuse said that it is a rotator cuff injury. This means the tendon from your chest to your shoulder is damaged. << The rotator cuff is the group of small muscles that work your arm motions in the shoulder joint.  There are several, supraspinatus, infraspinatus, etc. They all have tendons and ligaments associated with their workings.  A rotator cuff injury can be to any of these small items. Something we’ve all got to keep in mind in sports is that shoulder joint is not a very strong joint, its more of an articulation of loosely held bones, wrapped in muscle and sinews (ligaments).  That’s where the shoulder gets its mobility.  The muscles forming the rotator cuff are pretty small, some of them. Think of it this way.  Imagine the lever distance of a 6′ board prying up a large rock with a small rock under its midpoint.  About 3′ of lever distance. Your rotator cuff muscles have very little lever distance, so its easy to place very large stresses on the cuff muscles, the tendons connecting them to bone, and the ligaments helping hold all together. The more regular exercises we do to keep tone in the cuff muscles the better, like with the Theraband program. Good luck.

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The condition is called "Radiculopathy”.  This is as you’ve described,  a radiating burning pain.  Best course is to use a very light paddle with a SMALL blade.  This will avoid stress on your joints. Be careful as to your habits.  WATCH the way you pick things up.  In particular, the ANGLE of your shoulder  and wrist when you apply force.  You want to stay in the middle of the range of motion of your joints.  You donot want to apply force to a joint while it is at the end of its range of motion.  That is VERY painful.  (That is usually what people do to each other in Martial arts like Karate and Aikido). Overall, take it easy and work back to your potential SLOWLY with a therapist if possible. Good luck. Vinny

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You probably mean "radiculopathy". This is an inflammatory condition of the nerve caused by irritation or pressure to it. It could be caused by faulty posture, working on a computer with non ergonimic station, inadequate height for the keyboard or mouse, holding the phone on the shoulder while talking, portaging a canoe with all the weight on one shoulder, or as some people do with the saddle on the back of the neck and upper shoulder, etc. Any forward position of the head will tend to narrow the foramen through which the nerves exit the spinal cord and make it more susceptible to compression or irritation. It’s not a condition that tends to go away by itself, and if it does, it will come back and usually worsen. It is important to treat it quickly because if the myelin sheath (covering sheath that protects the nerve) is affected, it will take a lot more time to heal. Medicine has very little effective treatment to offer for that condition. They only concentrate on irritation (anti-inflammatories, injection, surgical removal of the disc) to alleviate the problem rather than treating the cause. If the faulty biomechanics of the neck and shoulder, with the muscle hypertony that causes the inflammation and the increase pressure on the nerve, is not treated, you’ll be in pain for a while. If you want to get better quickly and improve your well-being, the practitioner of choice that can help you is a Chiropractor. Make sure you find one that will do a lot of soft tissue work also (like using kinesiology or other types of techniques) because the problem is intimately related with subluxations (vertebrae out of place) and hypertension of the related muscles. Don’t be fooled. Just rest and anti-inflammatories will not alleviate this condition on its own, except for occasionnal temporary relief that will be brought back as soon as you start your activities again. And the quicker you treat it, the easier and quicker it’s gonna be. Ghyslaine Rioux OC1 and C-1 boater Chiropractor

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Regarding David Gunn’s C6 reticulopathy, this is similar to the problem I’ve been having at the C8 nerve root, but could be from different cause.  The end symptoms are the same, a pinched nerve root that "reflects" pain and numbness elsewhere.  The C8 nerve root distribute on underside of shoulder and arm (including inside and front of scapula), to last two fingers of hand.  The C6 nerve root is top of arm etc as David describes. Couple things I have learned can cause these troubles:  slightly herniated disk encroaching into the opening in side of vertebrae where nerve root exits, bony overgrowth of the vertebrae itself at the opening (foraminal narrowing), and I imagine stress to the nerve that causes swelling (inflammation) which kinds of feeds on itself (like carpal tunnel syndrom, where the median nerve becomes inflamed in its sheath and won’t calm down to normal size). Things to relieve problem I’ve learned of and tried are:  anti-inflammatory drugs (typically motrin heavy dose and methacarbamol, a muscle relaxer), traction (using a kit to stretch your neck an hour at a time with 3-5#), cervical epidural steriod injections.  Surgery can take two forms I know of: for bony overgrowth the technique is basically going into side of neck and boring out (slightly enlarging) the vertebral opening (the foramen) so the nerve root is not restricted; for herniated disk the surgery is going in thru front of neck and removing disk and replacing with disk of bone removed from your hip or donated from cadaver and bones fuse together, giving you a double height vertebra (OK). I would talk to your doctor about cervical epidural steroid injection if MRI and CAT scans dont’ show bony overgrowth or herniated disk present.  The CES can work wonders, so far I’ve avoided surgery on my disk problem and feel pretty good.  Am paddling whatever I want. Something I had done also was when it appeared surgery was warranted, my second opinion neurosurgeon said he recommended two injections before surgery:  The first was a nerve root block, where they inject pain killer into the side of your neck into the opening where the nerve root comes out.  If the films (MRI, CAT, myelogram, etc) have been diagnosed correctly, this technique will deaden the nerve root and all the symptoms will go away – effectively a diagnostic test, essentially confirming the diagnosis.  That’s what I got, the diagnosis was correct, then I got 2 epidurals 3 weeks apart.  the results have been good. Good luck.

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Bony overgrowths that narrow the intervertebral foramen are very uncommon in fairly young people. You will rarely encounter them before 50 years old unless a very severe accident had happenned to the neck. And if in turn the foramen size is decreased by that bony protrusion, decreasing the tension that will approximate the vertebraes together, will help relieving the stress on the nerve (traction, manipulation, deep muscle massage, etc.). As you should also know, bony overgrowths do not form in one day and they form by periosteal reaction caused by abnormal stresses on those vertebrae, pulling on the periosteum and causing somme ossification at the ligamentous attachment site. So if you want to treat that problem, it would be smart to also work on what has caused it and prevent it from guetting worse. Below 50 years old also, there is very uncommonly what we call degenerative discal herniation, in which the herniation is caused by a rupture of the external fibers of the disc, causing the gel-like substance to herniate through and cause pressure on the nerve. Herniated disc are found mostly in young adults and are usually the soft type. This type of herniation is usually caused by increased pressure on the disc (due to big tension, abnormal stress caused by a vertebrae out of alignment, faulty posture, etc.) that will cause the outside of the disc to bulge outward, but is not a true herniation. So decreasing the pressure on those vertebrae will help decrease the bulge of the disc and most of the time will alleviate it. Hope it answered your questions! Ghyslaine Rioux OC1 and C-1 boater Chiropractor

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Ghyslaine Rioux OC1 and C-1 boater If you want to get better quickly and improve your well-being,

the practitioner of choice that can help you is a Chiropractor. Make sure you find one that will do a lot of soft tissue work also (like using kinesiology or other types of techniques) because the problem is intimately related with subluxations (vertebrae out of place) and hypertension of the related muscles.<< You’ve described problems caused by movement related stresses, etc.  What about problems with the nerve roots caused by forminal narrowing from bony overgrowth, or from herniated disks protruding into foramen?

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The mouse seems to me to be more aggravating to my hands and wrists than the keyboard.  There are lots of keyboard shortcuts that minimize mouse use.  Here’s a page with many keyboard shortcuts: http://members.tripod.com/~rgrande/shortcuts.htm  Might be worth saving as a file.  A work colleague asked me about this recently, too. The main page was:  http://www.rxn.com/~demu001/rd_win95nt.html I also find that supporting my entire forearms on the desktop improves comfort.  The desk has to be large, though.   sam heinrich   erols.com/carboburnr   – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -to/from the river on my shoulder, but the arm pain and finger/thumb numbness began after subsequent heavy keyboard/mouse use.

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I was recently diagnosed with a C6 reticulopathy — i.e. a pinched nerve in my neck that affects my right shoulder and arm. The actual problem is where the nerve exits the C6 vertebrae, but the effects have been an initial, mild crick in the shoulder which has graduated to rather severe upper arm and shoulder pain and numbness in the thumb and first two fingers of the hand.  May have started from hauling a fully loaded Genesis to/from the river on my shoulder, but the arm pain and finger/thumb numbness began after subsequent heavy keyboard/mouse use. Any experience out there recuperating from such injuries? Any experience with how much paddling will aggravate such injuries? Any advise in general? -=dg=- David Gunn — David Gunn & Joan Mecsas

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I was recently diagnosed with a C6 reticulopathy — i.e. a pinched nerve in my neck that affects my right shoulder and arm.

<<<<<<<<snip the arm pain and finger/thumb numbness began after subsequent heavy keyboard/mouse use.

Hi I’m not sure whether I’ve got something similar, but I’ve lived with my arm-shoulder problem for several years without having had it diagnosed (maybe I should, but would it affect anything but Doc’s income?). My right shoulder aches slightly most of the time and gets worse after intensive pool or holeplaying kayak rolling. The problem extends down into the arm where it meets the Mouse-RSI syndrome in the lower arm. Arm/shoulder tends to be colder than my left arm, so there seems to be some circulation disturbance..? Possible original causes include improper use of a 12 gauge shot- gun (trap shootin practice 15 years ago with too long stock which slipped off shoulder and slammed into my then pretty big biceps several times hard enough to give permanent visible deformation of the muscle, must have given the shoulder joint a good jolt too). Also many years of competitive archery and a job with lots of carrying heavy equipment plus work with raised arms (movie sound boom operator) may play a part….. Guess I’ve had some jolts tending toward shoulder dislocation before I learned to keep my elbows low (High "Telemark" was a fancy maneuver in the old days; I’m 48 and have paddled on and off since I was 17). I don’t know whether any of my complaints are neck/spine related; I’ve had a bunch of jolts through the years that might have given lesser guys (or me?) whiplash injuries. Enough complaints, now some observations: I write this with the mouse to the left of my keyboard, made this switch a few weeks ago, and it seems to help. Takes a little adjustment, and I’m still a bit clumsy, but lefthanded mouse-use is worth a try. I’ve reduced paddle feather to about 50-60 degrees, I control with my sore arm. On flatwater I sometimes paddle left control, which BTW is the Norwegian standard (I’m RH since I started padling abroad). Reduced paddle size gradually from big blade 208 cm Schlegel Alpine. A main factor is reducing wrist strain by using asymmetrical blade. All these things make paddling easier on my arm(s). Keep warm by wearing appropriate clothing. Cold muscles are vulnerable. Besides my pains seem to get better from careful exercise, but I guess once you’ve got stuff like this, it’ll never go away completely. I’ve seen some articles up through the years in bodybuilding/martial/fitness  arts type mags that seem to make sense, and have kept a general lookout for articles on injury treatment on the newsstands. Besides the Internet has quite a bit of medical stuff. In general I think we just have to listen to our bodies when it comes to paddling with injuries, many  of us do, and this sort of post/thread is not uncommon on RBP. Many other sports have the same sort of things going, and I for one am not going to stop having fun and doing my thing until my body really stops me. I have a buddy who’s been away from the scene for more than a year due to tennis elbow, even he’ll probably be back this season. Hope you’ll get along and have fun despite your trouble, and yes I also hope to see some more response to your post, always looking for sympathy and good advice. — Peik Borud Norway

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upper arm and shoulder pain and numbness

indicates you need to be seeing a specialist (ortho and/or neuro) with a sportsmedicine bent!  nerve damage is slow to repair – and when severe is sometimes permanent.  don’t fool around! – Mothra  (aka Kathy Streletzky)    "Whan that Aprill with his shoures soote                                   The droughte of March hath perced to the roote, . . . Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages."  - Geoffrey Chaucer

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– upper arm and shoulder pain and numbness indicates you need to be seeing a specialist (ortho and/or neuro) with a sportsmedicine bent!  nerve damage is slow to repair – and when severe is sometimes permanent.  don’t fool around! – Mothra  (aka Kathy Streletzky)

I  agree completely with Mothra and speak from very personal experience. The symptoms described often indicate that something is out of line and pressing on the spinal cord. This can lead to permanent distortion or damage of the spinal cord and eventually result in paralysis. Do not fool around, find a competent professional and get a diagnosis. It has been my experience that neurosurgeons specialize more in this area than other MD’s. Don’t let the term "neurosurgeon" throw you, they’re just doctors like any others. Good luck. Floatin, John

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Here’s my $.02 worth. Many years ago I fell off a moving two wheeled vehicle ;

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