@agee3003 Hello and welcome to Connect. I'm glad you had an MRI to check things out, and because you are getting better, that is a very good sign. I am a spine surgery patent for cervical cord compression, and I have thoracic outlet syndrome which causes compression on the brachial plexus where the nerves leave my spine to go to my arm. That is a muscular type of compression of the small spaces those nerves travel through, and you described what my symptoms are like. My saying this doesn't mean that you share the same issues with me. Often symptoms of various issues overlap, and it takes a detective to figure out their source or sources.

When something is too heavy, unknowingly, we recruit other muscles to help and often with poor ergonomics. It's common to use your neck muscles to assist in lifting, and those attach to ribs and the shoulder blade. It is the rotation of the shoulder blades that allows the arm to move above the shoulder because the shoulder blade rotates supporting the weight of the arm and they move around suspended by the muscles attached. My physical therapist tells me to set my shoulder blades before lifting something... that is move them backward and together. Why? Because if my shoulders are forward the shoulder blades are rotated and shifted forward around the side of the ribs in back, and they are not in the position of strength to support a heavy weight on lifting. When you use good posture, straight back and make sure not to bend forward on lifting, you put less pressure on the neck and spine. That is why they tell people to hold the box, but lift using your legs if possible.

Also, interpretation of the MR imaging is subject to the opinion of the specialist. A radiologist needs to point out any possible problem to the doctor who ordered the scan so that they may do further testing. He wants to cover his responsibility for finding anything and everything because he is held accountable for errors of omission. The patient is handed a report without knowing how to interpret the results and that is a bit traumatic sometimes. Sometimes reports are wrong, or misdiagnosed or there is something found that has no consequences. It takes the training of the spine specialist to interpret the results, and it seems your doctor doesn't accept that as fact. That is actually good news. The report called it a "potential cause", not an absolute cause of pain.

What you may want to consider is a physical therapy evaluation. That can identify your pattern of how you move and function, as well as retrain your muscles to avoid bad habits and build core strength to protect your spine. If you are still worried, you can get another specialist's opinion. You are correct in that spine problems that are not the immediate result of a recent injury often take time to develop with symptoms that can come and go. In my case, I had a whiplash injury which did cause a spine problem about 20 years down the road, and I was probably in my very early 40's when the whiplash happened. It is good to keep records of these things because sometimes, there is an early sign of something that becomes important much later down the road as a clue to the beginning of what develops over time.

The important piece here to focus on is that you are getting better. Keep that in mind so your brain can let go of the fear. We are programmed to respond to fear as a survival mechanism, and that gets in the way of rational thinking. So, you can now say to your brain, OK, thank you, I heard your message, and things seem to be OK now, so please stop worrying.