pain in middle of my spine left shoulder and arm tingling in thumb and fingers

by lori
(bend, oregon)


I was rear ended over two years ago; I had a bad whiplash. I also have had pain in my neck the middle of my spine my left shoulder with tingling in my left arm to my elbow and thumb and two fingers.


Sometimes when I take a deep breath it hurts worse. I have had to go to the hospital from spasms in that area; I suffer everyday.

I take ibuprofen; only I have a lot of weakness also in my hand. I did have a Cat scan and an mri; it showed I have a ruptured disk in my neck.

And lower back from this accident.
I'm just waiting for better insurance to get better health care or have something done. What do you think.Thank you Lori B

Hello Lori,
I don't know how it is in your country but in mine the other party is definitely culpable. So your first step is to see a lawyer and institute a claim. Get advice on where to go; someone with motor accident experience.

Because this is going to cost you money, Lori, which ever way you turn and if someone rearended you their insurance must pay.

It is possible that bulging disc is not the main problem. If it were, then the pain and tingling wouldn't also be in the middle finger. In your case the median nerve is being affected and that suggests the problem may be in part further away from the spine, probably in the inter scalene triangle, but that's speculative.

The fact that you have midback pain, with breathing, points to a ribhead subluxation, but the C5 nerve root also supplies the muscles of the midback, so it could be one or the other, or both. See our deep upper back pain page.

Does turning your head to the left and then looking up cause pain? Where?

Use the Search function at Chiropractic Help and type in the above terms, and upper limb tension test. What's the result?

I would move quickly, Lori. Or you may end up with a permanently painful lame arm.

Keep to the same thread and let me have the answers to the above questions. Which disc incidently is bulging?

Dr B

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