You note neck and right shoulder pain after an injury from “exercise”. Your neck is “tight” but you indicate full but stiff range of motion. You have no numbness and I assume no weakness. The radiologist noted only C3-4 disc disease with left foraminal stenosis.
Obviously, the MRI (if read correctly) does not correlate with your symptoms. However, degenerative disc disease does not have to produce nerve compression to cause pain into the shoulder.
The differential includes facet pain causing shoulder pain, disc pain that is unilateral (more unusual) and a rotator cuff disorder in the shoulder that radiates pain into the neck (relatively common).
A good physical examination will most likely differentiate between the different disorders. Then, anesthetic blocks of the potential pain generators will be helpful to point to the correct treatment. This is assuming you have already tried and failed a good physical therapy program.
Dr. Corenman
Donald Corenman, MD, DC is a highly-regarded spine surgeon, considered an expert in the area of neck and back pain. Trained as both a Medical Doctor and Doctor of Chiropractic, Dr. Corenman earned academic appointments as Clinical Assistant Professor and Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and his research on spine surgery and rehabilitation has resulted in the publication of multiple peer-reviewed articles and two books.