Pinched Nerve...?

I had these symptoms.  Very likely, you have a nerve problem in your cervical vertebrae.  It may get better with physical therapy.  My insurance required PT before they would authorize even an MRI.  After therapy didn't work, an MRI was done and I got a diagnosis of extreme narrowing of the foramen of the vertebrae.  It was bone spurs in the foramen which were digging into the nerve.  I had the disks at C4-C5 and C5-C6 removed and the vertebrae fused.  I have permanent nerve damage which might be attributable to delay in the surgery so don't delay in getting it looked at.  The delays were partly the insurance company's fault for insisting on 6 weeks of PT, partly the doctor's office for losing the MRI results and not reading them, and partly mine for delaying the surgery for 4 weeks until after Christmas.  My first symptoms were in August 2008.  Surgery was in January 2009.  By then, the nerve damage was permanent.

If you have a bulging disk you may be able to get it to reduce with therapy.  I had a traction device which pulled on my head to decompress the neck.  It helped a bit but in my case the calcium deposits were not going away.

TW 

Great info,  I recently got checked for a hernia because I was experiencing pain "Down There" in the typical hernia place.  (I do not have a hernia).  I was talking to a Physicians assistant who assists on spinal surgeries (At a party, I didn't go to the doctor).  he said a compressed disc could show up as this sort of pain.  Now it seems to have moved up to where it currently is, and the pain "Down there" seems to have gone away.

I'll go to the Doc.  Thank you!

That was my thought process too.

I think getting checked out never hurts, but I can tell you that I have had this exact problem.  I am good at tweaking my neck or sleeping wrong and often have some kind of neck problem.  About 3 years ago my right arm, especially right pinky and ring finger, could go numb.   My shoulder also hurt, but I felt the numbness was most alarming. 

I asked first at the chiropractor (I can give you a good referral).   He did a lot of stretching and prodding along the line of my neck and upper shoulder and the numbness gradually stopped happening.

It was accompanied by shoulder pain and so I visited the sports doctor because the pain continued periodically.  She did an xray.  Turned out I have something like spur in my shoulder which pinches things.   It's not a big deal and would be treated with PT before worrying about anything more drastic.   I wasn't very good at doing PT but I do certain stretches and it's mostly fine.  I gave up racquetball, which makes me sad.  

In your case, it will probably go away and it works itself out.    I assume you can make the numbness go away by changing your position?  If so, I'd keep moving and see how it goes for a few days.  If it stays numb, I'd visit the doc.  Let me know if you want the chiropractor referral.

Go see a Chiro.

If I sleep wrong or tweak myself out I've had my arm fall asleep while swimming!

A couple of snap crackle pops from the chiro and I was just fine.

I'd go get that checked. I had an issue with a pinched nerve in my neck that caused severe pain in my neck, shoulder, & left arm. Also had numbness in my left hand, especially a couple of the fingers. It was discovered through xrays. It took a month and a half of adjustments through a chiro to fix it. I'm so thankful I went in to see him. I had never been in so much pain for so long. Well, if you don't include labor and delivery.

Go get it checked!

Well, the pain and numbness got bad by the end of the work day, so I went to a doctor.  Long story short, they did a quick exam and prescribed a cycle of Prednezone (sp?) and physical therapy, then an MRI if that doesn't work.  Nothing for the pain.

I went to the PT department, and they can't get me in for two weeks!  I think this is too long.  I also called and got some pain meds too.  

Does anyone know the PT stretches, traction etc for this?  Maybe I can start early..