

A pinched nerve causing shoulder pain is a sign that you are dealing with Cervical Radiculopathy. A disc bulge in the cervical spine, as the name implies, will bulge out a little but. As a result of this structure not being where it is supposed to be, it can compress a nerve root coming out of the spinal cord. Discs usually have no contact with the nerves outside of the spinal cord, but in the case of a bulging disc, they often do. This is described as a pinched nerve, but the nerve may not be being pinched per se, simply touched, compressed, or irritated in an area where it shouldn’t be coming into contact with other structures. When a thorough exam of shoulder structures has determined that nothing is wrong with the shoulder itself, the problem is most likely spinal related.
This ‘pinched’ nerve in the neck may lead you to feeling symptoms in your shoulder, other than the site of origin of the problem. Cervical Radiculopathy is exactly this. It happens when pain or another symptom is felt elsewhere than in the neck itself. You do not need to be experiencing neck pain in order to be diagnosed with Cervical Radiculopathy.
The causes of a pinched nerve can be any or all of the following:
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Symptoms of a pinched nerve will generally be one sided and may be:
Generally, a pinched nerve in the neck with radicular symptoms to the shoulder has a good prognosis with conservative treatment. Rarely will this require surgical intervention. Conservative interventions may be:
If the above methods fail to relieve pain, your doctor will discuss surgical options with you depending on the severity and location of the compressed nerve causing the pain.