Neck pain with burning sensation for one week

Dear Ask The Doctor: For about a week I have had a constant sharp pain in the cervical area of my spine. It started out as an intense hot, burning pain. The burning has mostly subsided but the pain in my spine is still there and leads to pains on either side of my spine between my shoulder blades. I'm not sure if this is related, but I also have a pain in the fingertip of my left index finger. I think I may also be experiencing vertigo as well. Any ideas what this could be or what I should do to get better?

Dear Pascual: The pain in your index finger, neck and shoulder as you described it might be due to a cervical nerve compression, but it would be important to rule out also an inflammation of the peripheral nerves at the level of the arm and hand. In the younger patients, cervical radiculopathy may be a result of a disc herniation or an acute injury causing impingement of a nerve. In the older patient, cervical radiculopathy is often a result of spinal canal narrowing from bone (osteophyte) formation, decreased disc height and degenerative changes due to aging process. The treatment strategy usually includes: physical therapy program aimed to reduce pain and inflammation, and the use of anti-inflammatory medication (as “Motrin”, “Aleve”), also a re-education of your habits and posture, you should be independent in a stretching and strengthening program and continue with these exercises under the periodic supervision of a physical therapist initially and then completely on your own. Often, you should show progressive improvement over the first 6-8 weeks with conservative treatment. If there is no significant improvement in this time frame, consider a surgical evaluation.