Discomfort, numbness and pain from shoulder to hand

Dear Ask The Doctor: Feeling a lot of discomfort, numbness, and sharp pains from my shoulder to my finegertips

Dear David: The symptoms that you described may be caused by several issues, for example: sleeping with the hand under the head, sitting with the arm hanging over the back of a chair, wearing straps or carriying heavy weights, even the inflated cuff during measuring blood pressure. These are considered “everyday causes”. Then, we have the disorders of the cervical spine as: degenerative disc disease, injury (whiplash), muscle sprain, discs problems compressing the spinal nerves. In this case the diagnosis is made by a MRI or CT of the cervical spine. I recommend you a comprehensive evaluation to rule out cervical spine problems, acute nerve inflammation (neuritis), and also a common issue as carpal tunnel syndrome.