[sport433]

#8174

For 6 months now, I have had pain in my upper back between the shoulder blades and in my chest ( usually left side ) but sometimes right. The pain travels around sometimes under my arm sometimes in elbow or hand. I thought it was heart related , stayed in hospital 3 days getting worked over for heart issues. My pc says muscle pain but nothing is working. Now i am starting to have tingling in my upper back and still the pain, sometimes i am stll convinced i am about to have a heart attack. I believe somehow this is all stemming from my vertebrate somehow. how should i proceed from this point?

Any advice greatly appreciated I am tired of hurting and thinking im going to have a heart attack

thanks

Carter

[Donald Corenman, MD, DC]

#8180

Your pain origin could have many different sources but the two most common would be a disc herniation at C3-4 or an upper thoracic spine disc herniation.

The C3-4 hernation would compress the C4 nerve. Pain generated from this nerve is known as “cervical angina” as the C4 nerve refers to the anterior chest wall and can mimic a heart attack.

A thoracic disc hernation would cause pain down the dermatome (think of the pain pathway similar to the pathway of a rib with the origin at the spine between the shoulders).

An MRI would reveal either of these disorders and if the pain origin is still uncertain, a selective nerve root block (SNRB-see website) could be used to confirm this diagnosis (pain diary-see website)

Dr. Corenman

[Author]

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