Ways Of Dealing With Neck And Shoulder Pain Edmonton Residents Will Find Helpful

By Michael Watson


The neck and the shoulder are related both anatomically and functionally. There are a number of bones, ligaments, muscles and nerves that connect the two parts of the body. For this reasons pain originating from the neck region is at times referred to the shoulder. There are a number of things on neck and shoulder pain Edmonton residents need to know if struggling with this problem.

Symptoms may be termed acute or chronic. The former term is used when they have been present for two weeks or less. The most commonly encountered causes in this case include infections and trauma. Chronic pain is that which has been longstanding (usually more than two weeks). The causes include prolonged infections (tuberculosis and osteomyelitis), trauma, fibromyalgia and degenerative conditions.

A majority of the cases that are seen in hospital are those that affect the soft tissues in the neck, the shoulder or both. Whiplash injury, which may be seen following motor vehicle accidents, affects both the neck and the regions. Most of the other cases are mainly due to muscle and ligament strains. Home remedies are usually sufficient to relive the symptoms in 24 to 48 hours.

One of the things that you need to do is to have a rest and to elevate the injured area. This serves to reduce further injury and to initiate the process of healing. Self made remedies that can be considered include the use of cold packs, heat therapy, pain medications and massage therapy. Cold packs are useful in reducing the inflammatory response and the warm compressions help in improving blood flow to the area.

If symptoms do not respond to over the counter analgesic agents and other home remedies, you need to consider making a visit to the hospital so that the exact cause can be identified. The doctor will usually take a clinical history of your problem and examine the affected area so as to determine the character of the pain and whether or not other parts of the body are affected. Investigations such as the MRI and CT scan will most likely be needed.

One of the conditions that imaging studies help diagnose is degenerative arthritis in the cervical region. Degenerative changes in the cervical vertebra become increasingly common as we advance in age. The intervertebral disc space is progressively narrowed by bone spikes known as osteophytes. The nerves that leaving the spine through these spaces may be pinched and this causes pain both in the neck and the shoulders. This is known as cervical radiculopathy.

There are many other conditions that may be diagnosed. They include dislocated joints, collar bone fractures, bursitis and tumors among others. The good news is that many of them can be managed medically using drugs; only a few of them require surgical intervention. If you are at a high risk of sustaining these injuries, you will be well advised to wear protective gear all the time.

The innervation of the shoulder and some abdominal structures is the same. Injury to these structures causes pain that is referred to the shoulders. This may be seen in case of gall bladder disease. Such cases are very rare and take a bit of time to diagnose.




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