Cervical radiculopathy is a condition involving the nerves of the spinal cord and their exit through the bones in the cervical spine. It commonly presents with shooting pain or pins and needles from the neck down either one or both arms with or without neck pain. In the younger populaiton it is usually caused by a cervical disc bulge causing impingement on the nerve and in older patients it is usually caused by degeneration of the cervical spine itself, reducing the size of the canal that the nerves exit the spine from. Both can cause the shooting or pins and needles phenomenon.
Signs and Symptoms:
- Pain in neck.
- Restriction of neck movement.
- Headaches
- History of trauma e.g. fall onto head/neck.
- Work involving repetitive movement.
- Pain or pins and needles shooting down the arm into the fingers.
- Loss of muscle strength in the involved arm/fingers.
- Decreased sensation in the involved arm compared to the unaffected arm.