Andy, I greatly sympathize with your medical problem as this is one of the reasons I retired early with severe arthritis and nerves being crushed, particularly from the C5 vertebrae. I finally had an MRI and the situation is pretty bad. Three years ago I did not want to live. The pain was so bad throughout my shoulder and right down my arm to my thumb and the two fingers closest to the thumb and all the muscles in between. It is like having a toothache in your muscles.
I don't know if it is the same situation in your case, but I got very little help from physical therapy. Luckily, I had deep tissue massage therapy from a friend who had gone back to school in later life and changed careers and he is exceptionally gifted and has been able to control most of the pain. I am treated every two weeks and eventually will need surgery, but am putting this off as long as I can. The surgery is getting to be very common. They cut into your throat to get to the back side of the spine and insert rings around the collapsing vertebrae. I found out that a number of people I know have had this done including a distant cousin who had the same problem on the left side like I have. But the pain is so horrible and so unrelenting, that if you are not getting relief, I can well understand what you are going through. I bring this up to the group, because I suspect that with such a large group, there are others who have the same problem or similar muscle pain from vertebral disk problems. A good example is my wife's situation due to additional problems from injury on her lower back. She was able to get relief from the same massage therapist for unbelievable pain and ironically, numbness, from sciatica that just would not go away. Perhaps there may be someone in your area that has this technique and can help immeasurably in quality of life. For those who have not had such problems, you have to experience this to understand how bad it can be. 73, Rick, KV9U Andrew O'Brien wrote: > Maybe it is because I am getting irritated because of the pinched > nerve in my neck,
