@1dlynnborst Hello and welcome to Connect. I am a spine surgery patient for cervical stenosis and had surgery to decompress my spinal cord. With a spine issue, it helps to avoid any posture or bending of the spine that exacerbates the issues. I used to get neck muscle spasms that moved my vertebrae around which then put more pressure on my spinal cord because there wasn't any space left around it. I used a microbead neck wrap that I microwaved and I would lie down on my back which helped. I would think that your pain is probably increased by inflammation from your recent shoulder surgery. Not knowing is also stressful and stress increases pain, so do your best to relax any way that works for you. Did your therapist check the alignment of your spine? With muscles that connect your shoulder to your spine, if you had a spasm in your shoulder, it can pull on your neck vertebrae and put more pressure on something that already hurts. Spasms can twist or tilt vertebrae. The spinal nerves exit the spine between vertebrae, so you can imagine if the vertebrae gets tilted to the side, it could make that space smaller. My therapist was using a Dolphin Neurostim on me to ease the muscle spasms and pain. It has electric signals that block the neurotransmitters that transmit pain, and I used to get about a week of relief before the spasms started again. If you can maintain the normal curve in the cervical spine, is helps ease symptoms.

Have you had an MRI of your neck? How did they diagnose radiculopathy?

Jump to this post