Symptoms of Cervical Nerve Injuries

An Overview of Cervical Nerve Injuries

Degenerative changes in the neck can lead to four different problems; radiculopathy, cord compression, neck pain and instability. Radiculopathy (nerve inflammation) occurs when the nerve exit holes (the foramen) narrow due to bone spur formation or disc herniation and compress the exiting nerve. Due to the make-up of this nerve exit hole, nerve symptoms typically increase with neck extension (bending the head backwards) and leaning the head to the side of the narrowed hole (painful side).

The shoulder blade (scapula) is a common pain referral area for nerve pain (radiculopathy) generated from C4 or below. Pain in the shoulder blade does not have to originate from cervical nerve root compression but commonly does.

Symptoms generated from nerve compression in the cervical spine basically include pain, numbness, paresthesias (pins and needles sensation) and possibly motor weakness that radiates into the shoulder and arm. Each nerve demonstrates slightly different symptoms in terms of specific areas of the shoulder or arm that are involved. Weakness of a muscle group can lead to abnormal arm function that is distinct and understandable. Each nerve will be discussed below as to what symptoms are typically generated and what muscles could be involved.

Cervical nerve root compression is different than lumbar nerve compression in significant ways. The length of the injured nerve is important for recovery. Shorter nerves heal faster and better. In the cervical spine, nerve lengths are generally much shorter than in the lumbar spine (see the topic on nerve recovery for further information).

Uncovertebral joints only exist in the cervical spine and these joints commonly become degenerative. When they do degenerate, these uncovertebral joints develop bone spurs. Unfortunately, these joints lie just in front of the exiting cervical nerve roots. Bone spur formation therefore can cause significant compression of the nerve and nerve pain results. Since the exiting hole for the nerve changes in size with different neck positions, extension (bringing the head backwards) and leaning to the side of pain will close off the hole and cause increased pain. Sometimes, patients will hold their arm over their head to obtain relief of arm pain (Bakody’s maneuver).

Spinal cord compression symptoms are very different than nerve compression symptoms. Compression of the cord produces myelopathy, malfunction of the spinal cord. This condition is well covered in another location on this website but a short primer will be mentioned here.

The spinal cord contains no pain receptors so compression and malfunction of the cord will normally be painless. Symptoms are not of pain but of patchy numbness, incoordination of hand or leg movements (balance and fine motor skills), occasional “electrical strikes” with a change of neck position (extension or bending backwards) and possibly bowel and bladder involvement. There is the risk of a special type of spinal cord injury called a central cord syndrome (see website) with a fall onto the face.

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(Please keep reading below for more information on this condition.)

Brachial Plexus (Shoulder Nerves) Compression vs. Cervical Nerve Root Compression (or How Thoracic Outlet Syndrome Presents)

The brachial plexus is the tangle of nerves that occurs in the shoulder when the cervical nerve roots exit from the spine. They form a “tango” (called a plexus) where these nerves join together and then separate into the final nerves that travel down the arm (the ulnar, median and radial nerves). The brachial plexus nerves can be compressed at the shoulder through three distinct tunnels, the scalene muscles, the tunnel between the collar bone and the first rib and finally between the shoulder blade and the tendon of the pectoralis minor muscle. This is similar to carpel tunnel syndrome at the wrist or cubital tunnel syndrome (“funny bone” nerve) at the elbow but thoracic outlet syndrome as noted, occurs in the shoulder.

If thoracic outlet syndrome is present, symptoms in the arm will occur with arm position and symptoms should be unaffected by neck position. That is, if you raise your arm overhead but do not let your neck go backwards (you prevent extension) and then develop arm symptoms, this might be thoracic outlet syndrome. Typically, thoracic outlet syndrome will cause numbness and paresthesias (pins and needles) to radiate into the pinky side of the hand but there are instances of thumb side of hand numbness too.

Local Neck Pain

Local pain can occur in the neck but typically not from spinal cord or nerve root compression. Neck pain generally derives from the degenerative changes of the disc or facet that causes the bone spur formation in the first place. Degenerative disc changes in the neck can produce neck pain just like arthritis of the knee can cause knee pain. The pain is normally worse with activity or a prolonged stationary positioning (sitting at a computer). Some patients develop increased pain when exposed to vibration forces (driving, running, airplane travel). Instability develops when the two vertebra have lost the restraining couplers that normally stabilize the vertebra (discs, ligaments, facets). Sharp pain develops with quick motions and the neurological structures are possibly at risk for injury with falls and impacts. See the section on cervical degenerative facet and disc disease for further information.

Specific Nerve Injuries

C1-C4 Nerve Injury

There nerves are somewhat different in the neck compared to the lower nerves at C5-T1. Compression of these nerve roots can cause neck pain but generally do not connect to any muscles. Injury to these nerves will therefore not cause arm weakness. Even within this group, the first two nerves (C1 and C2) are different as these two nerves (AKA the greater and lesser occipital nerves) supply sensation to the back of the skull and irritation can generate headaches. The C3 and C4 nerves supply sensation to the neck and very top of the shoulders. Numbness, paresthesias (pins and needles) and pain will follow the distribution of these nerves. Interestingly, the C4 nerve also supplies the anterior chest wall to the nipple line. Compression of this nerve can sometimes mimic chest pain from a heart attack (called cervical angina).

C5 Nerve Injury

The C5 nerve innervates the deltoid muscle and some of the muscles of the rotator cuff. Weakness of any of these muscles can create a problem with shoulder function. Deltoid weakness will make raising the arm at the shoulder difficult and weakness of the rotator cuff muscles can produce problems with internal rotation and external rotation (pulling in or out- the forehand and backhand in tennis for example). There is some evidence that rotator cuff disorders could result from an imbalance of some of the four muscles of the rotator cuff due to either C5 or the C6 nerve malfunctioning.

Compression of the C5 nerve will produce numbness, paresthesias (pins and needles) and pain into the top of the shoulder and the top of the arm but these symptoms will not radiate down below the elbow. Commonly, pain can also radiate into the shoulder blade region (scapula).

C6 Nerve Injury

Involvement of the C6 nerve can produce weakness of the biceps muscle and the wrist extensors (muscles that pull the wrist back opposite the palm side). With biceps weakness, the patient would notice difficulty with lifting objects or holding an object up at eye level. Wrist extension is important for a strong grip. Patients might notice that with weakness of this muscle, their grip feels somewhat weak.

Pain and numbness would radiate down the shoulder into the thumb side of the hand. Pain may not radiate down the entire arm but may stop at the elbow.

C7 Nerve Injury

The C7 nerve innervates three main arm muscles, the triceps, the wrist flexors and the MCP extensors. The triceps is the muscle that is involved with pushing objects away from the body or with pushing your body away from an object like the floor (pushups). The motion of throwing is governed by the triceps and a weak triceps muscle will reduce the throwing ability of one who has the C7 nerve involved.

Weakness of the wrist flexors can be noticed when you pull object towards you with your wrist.

MCP extensors are the muscles that straighten out your fingers. These muscles are important for putting your hand in your pocket. Curled fingers do not fit in pockets well (but It should be noted that it is rare that this muscle is so weak that the fingers cannot be straightened out a little to enter a pocket).

Pain and paresthesias will radiate into the hand in the middle three fingers focusing mainly on the middle finger.

C8 and T1 Nerve Injury

The C8 with the T1 nerve covers the hand muscles. Loss of grip strength is more noticeable with C8 weakness. T1 innervates more of the intrinsic hand muscles important for fine motor skills but C8 also contributes to those. Pain, numbness and paresthesias (pins and needles) from injury of these nerves would radiate to the pinky side of the hand and the inside forearm.

For more resources on symptoms of cervical nerve injuries, please contact the Vail, Aspen, Denver and Grand Junction, Colorado area office of back doctor and spine specialist Dr. Donald Corenman.

Donald Corenman, MD, DC

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81 reviews

Eric S

Sep 26, 2021

by Eric S on Donald Corenman, MD, DC

Successful pars repair at 46 years old

Back in November of 2018 (at 46 years old) I came from Vancouver BC to have a pars repair done with Dr. Donald Corenman at the Steadman Clinic in Vail Colorado. I'm finally posting this review nearly three years later in late 2021. The reason I waited so long was I wanted to know the final result before I posted my review. Unfortunately in that time Dr. Corenman has retired. Nevertheless, I want to post this review of Dr. Corenman and his staff at the Steadman Clinic in their excellent treatment of my L5 pars interarticularis.

I fractured my pars at age 42 back in 2014 when rolling on the gym floor, and was denied treatment by the Canadian healthcare system, probably due to my age. First my GP told me there was no surgical option for a pars defect, which was quite incorrect! I tried to live with it, but the symptoms worsened (periodic random spine slippage and weeks of resultant pain after just bending over to tie my shoe, so I eventually learned to mostly squat and hardly bend). When I finally consulted with Canadian spine surgeons, I was told they believed my pars defect had been congenital (since birth). This was absurd, considering I had done extreme martial arts (including jiu jitsu) for years prior, as well as 5 years of reinforcing steel full time in my 20s, probably the hardest job on the back you can find. No pars defect like mine would possibly have allowed this--ergo it was impossible that I had had the defect since birth. I did however have an asymptomatic congenital spina bifida occulta that made me more susceptible to a pars fracture. In 2014 in one instant, I went from having the strongest back people I knew said they'd ever seen, to being unable to safely bend over and tie my shoe without a non-negligible risk of my spine slipping randomly (which would lead to weeks of pain after each occurrence). This was due to the unilateral L5 pars defect, otherwise known as spondylolysis. It was when lying in pain on the floor 4 years later after maybe the 6th spine slippage event post injury, that I had had enough, and resolved to have surgery. If Canada's "universal health care" said no, I would make lemonade from lemons, and find the very best surgeon in the world at pars repairs. That was Dr. Donald Corenman. Dr. Corenman back in 2018 ran a website https://neckandback.com/ that dedicated many pages to the science of every aspect of pars repairs, from eligibility (good discs on MRI), to best surgical techniques (minimal open compared to minimally invasive), best imaging to use (i.e., O-Arm with Stealth imaging vs. older fluoroscopy), the ideal amount of BMP to use and why not use too much or too little, and much more, all to do with pars repairs, pages upon pages of his site just on the pars, with scientific references and his own extensive expert opinion. As a health research statistician, I was very impressed with this. It was in stark contrast to the websites of other spine surgeons which barely gave the pars a word or two, focusing almost exclusively on fusions. I had found the best surgeon in the world for pars repairs, and so after Dr. Corenman personally screened my MRI to ensure my discs were healthy, I booked the surgery.

Being 46 years old at the time of surgery in 2018, with a 4-year-old pars fracture from 2014 combined with a congenital SBO meant my pars fragment was somewhat atrophied, but it was "very solid", said Dr. Corenman in the operative report. Nevertheless, it was challenging with two things to fix, the pars and SBO, and OR time was around 4 hours. Recovery over the following months was guided by a very clear "Spine binder" from the Steadman Clinic with strict rules of "no BLT" (no bending, lifting or twisting), and illustrated physiotherapy guidelines. They even warned patients to avoid fish oil supplements, which could excessively dampen inflammation and hence slow bone healing. They answered many questions I had during months of recovery, with responses coming from the very supportive Lori Fugate (then director of Dr. Corenman's practice), and Ehrich Bean (then physician's assistant at the practice), as well as a couple calls with Dr. Corenman himself after two of the CT scans. Ehrich Bean offered great advice for taking the spine binder conservatively due to the nature of pars repairs vs. fusions. The final post-op CT scan I had was a couple weeks ago at 34 months post-op, and Dr. Corenman had retired, but I got a very positive and informative call from Eric Strauch (current PA at the Steadman Clinic under Dr. Corenman's replacement there, and who had also worked with Dr. Corenman previously). The staff at the Steadman Clinic were extremely supportive all the way through the process. I should mention, the local Canadian spine surgeon did offer me very good post-operative support including antibiotics as needed to deal with a mild surface incision-site infection early on, booking numerous x-rays when I felt something was amiss, as well as booking all four of my post-op CT scans. I am very grateful for that support also.

My final result shows plenty of solid bone across the pars and a healed SBO, with my vertebral body now a solid bone ring instead of being broken at two places as it was pre-op. Does my spine hold up in the real world? You bet! I have recently dug and moved several yards of dirt and sand and gravel by myself (shovel and wheelbarrow!) to fix our water main, pulled roots from the yard, moved several "portable" (these are HUGE) air conditioners up several flights of stairs my myself, and lifted weights. I now run 2 miles (3.2 KM) several times weekly with a hard 100 meter dash in the middle. I bend deeply before each run I go on, with no spine slippage. My spine feels amazing. I can bend over to do exercise, or real word tasks, with no risk of spine slippage.

My sincere thanks to God, Dr. Donald Corenman, Lori Fugate, Ehrich Bean, Eric Strauch, and the Steadman Clinic, as well as the Canadian spine surgeon who offered me excellent post-operative care back in Canada. You have all given me a new lease on life.

Sincerely,
Eric S

Robert S

May 11, 2021

by Robert S on Donald Corenman, MD, DC

Back Fusion Surgery

I had my entire lumbar spine fused in November of 2018. I had scoliosis , with pinched nerves that were so painful I could hardly walk - and standing for more than a few minutes was impossible. Even sitting was painful.
The fusion surgery produced immediate relief! And the recovery was much easier than I expected.
To this day I can do all the activities I love from hiking, to standing in a stream fly fishing to riding my bike long distances - or just walking down the street with my wife.
Kudos to Dr. Corenman and his staff, (including the two Erics) for taking such good care of me!

Leslie R

Jul 9, 2020

by Leslie R on Donald Corenman, MD, DC

TLIF

I had my TLIF surgery on 6/24/2020 by Dr. Corenman, I can not say enough good things about the Dr or his staff. I was always treated with respect and explained everything throughly, that made it easy for everyone to understand. I highly recommend Dr. Corenman and the Steadman Clinic.

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Symptoms of Cervical Nerve Injuries

An Overview of Cervical Nerve Injuries