Hi Dan,
I am a deep muscle therapist and I’ve been specializing in the treatment of chronic pain and sports injuries for over 15 years. I apologize for this being such a very long message, but you have a lot of various things happening all at the same time. I wanted to give you some treatments that I’ve taught to other people who have had similar complaints to the ones you mentioned in your message.
It sounds like the muscles that go down the back of your neck, and possibly the muscles that attach each of the vertebre to the one above and below it, may be in spasm. When the muscles contract they put pressure on the bone and will cause the vertebre to press down onto the disk, causing disk pain and impinging on the nerves as they leave the vertebre.
I wish I knew how to do HTML so I could put a picture of this onto this message, it would make the explanation a lot easier to understand, but I’ll do my best. Think of it this way, there are tiny muscles called multifidi, splenii, and rotators (it’s not necessary to remember these names, I just put them in here in case you are interested in looking them up in an anatomy book) which attach to each of the vertebre and then go down to the vertebre below. It is the normal contraction of these tiny muscles that give us the ability to make the vast range-of-motion that we have in our neck. When any of these muscles go into a spasm they pull tightly on the vertebre and will actually pull the bone out of alignment. Naturally, since the disk is between the bones, this will also put pressure onto the disks, even potentially causing the disk to bulge or herniated.
It has been my experience that when a person sleeps with either too many pillows (so the head is raised up toward the ceiling for hours at a time) or sleeps on his side and uses too few pillows (causing the head to be bent toward the mattress for hours) that these muscles go into an isometric contraction and pull on the vertebre. This is frequently the case when a person comes to see me with severe headaches, the tiny muscles are in spasm and are causing pressure to be placed on the spinal cord as the bones are shifting.
There are larger muscles called semispinalis capitis and cervicis, and even larger muscles called splenius capitis and cervicis, that will do the same thing, and for the same reason. Finally, there are the major muscles (levator scapulae and upper trapezius) that also originate on the cervical vertebre and can cause the vertebre to be pulled out of alignment. Spasms in any of these muscles will cause pain in your head, neck, upper back, arms and hands, and can also potentially cause numbness to your arms and hands.
Also, the loss of strength down your arm can be coming from another neck muscle called scalenes. The anterior scalenes originate on the front side of C2-7 and insert onto the first and second rib. When there are spasms in the fibers they cause pain, numbness and tingling in your shoulder, arm and hand, and also into the area of your upper back that you mentioned is hurting you. This happens because the brachial nerves pass through the scalene muscle fibers and if the muscle is in spasm it traps the nerve fibers. This is commonly called Thoracic Outlet Syndrome.
Finally, a spasm in a muscle of your shoulder blade, called infraspinatus, will also give pain and tingling to the shoulder, arm and top of the hand. All of these referred pain points have been scientifically proven and documented, and the points of spasm are commonly called “trigger points”. Also, when a nerve is impinged, or a muscle is held in a contracted state, you will often feel a loss of power. The reason is because the muscle isn’t able to pull from its longest length, decreasing it’s pulling power.
Fortunately, these muscles can all be self-treated easily, and with just a little direction you will know exactly where to press because you’ll often feel a bump and it will hurt. One word of advice, the pressure must ALWAYS “hurt so good” or you are pressing too hard.
I’ll begin with the infraspinatus because it is the easiest to teach without pictures. This muscle is the shape of a fan and is right on top of your scapula (shoulder blade). The wide part of the scapula is the origination of the muscle, and the insertion point is at the posterior tip of your humerus (upper arm bone). A spasm here will feel like a rope going across from the wide angle directly to the insertion point. All you need to do is to lie on your back on the floor and place a tennis ball so you are resting your shoulder blade directly onto the ball. Move about a bit and if you feel a painful “rope” you are on the spasm. Just lie on it for 60 seconds, moving the ball slightly so it will go in the direction of the muscle (don’t go across the muscle, go with the fibers). Adjust your weight on the ball so you reach that “hurts so good” level, adding more weight as your pain tolerance allows.
For your posterior neck muscles, since you are feeling the discomfort especially on your left side, bring your right arm across in front of you and use your fingertips to press directly into the left side of your neck, just to the outside of your vertebre. Press in deeply and slide down the back of your neck. If you feel a painful bump, that is the spasm. Just leave your finger on the bump, increasing the pressure every 15 seconds for one or two minutes. Then move your finger down a bit to continue searching for spasms. Do this slowly to your entire posterior neck, going as far down your back as you can reach. After it feels like you have found, and released, all the spasms, then put your four fingers right to the outside of your vertebre, hold them in place and slowly bring your chin down toward your chest. Don’t let your hand move with your neck, keep it in place so you are stretching the muscles. Then do the other side of your neck because there are also spasms likely to be found on the right side.
Using your left hand you can do this same treatment to the left front of your neck, pressing in toward the front of your vertebre. (Do the right side when you are finished treating the left side) There is some caution to be taken here because the carotid artery is passing in this area. Be very careful to not be pressing where you feel a pulse. Feel for the pulse before you press down, and if you feel a pulse just move your fingertips until it is gone. Do this all the way down to behind/underneath your collarbone. You’ll likely find several points that will cause shooting “needle-like” pain down your arm and under your shoulder blade. These are the spasms that are trapping the brachial plexus (bundle of nerves in the Thoracic Outlet). GENTLY press on these spasms and hold them for 15 seconds before gently increasing the pressure. Continue doing this until you don’t feel any discomfort regardless of how hard you are pressing.
It would be beneficial for you to treat your entire back, next to the spine, which can also be done with a tennis ball, and I have a very specific back stretch that has helped lots of people in the past, but is complicated to describe. I’ll be happy to tell it to you if you let me know that you are interested. I have an active forum that discusses self-treatment of pain. The forum has helped so many athletes in the past, feel free to join our forum and to ask for the back stretch. I’d like to share it with the athletes who are regulars on our forum, and I’ve decided I’m going to ask our webmaster to put the pictures of this stretch onto the website so it will be easier for people to follow. The URL is: www.julstro.com, first read the section that is titled “Muscles and Pain” (it’s pretty interesting) then go to the link for the forum.
BTW, the problem you had while swimming, exactly what is the movement you are having a problem making? As I read your message it sounds like you are having more of a problem at the beginning of your pressing down into the resistance of the water, am I correct? This could be caused by spasms in the rhomboid muscles which bring your arm down. It would make sense because you are feeling pain into your upper back and the rhomboids originate at C7 and T1-5, therefore pulling on those vertebre as well as preventing your arm from having full power in the downward stroke.
I’ve worked with so many athletes through the years that I’ve learned that we almost always find the spasms that are causing the problems, it just takes some “detective” work. But, once we find the points, the treatments are easy to do.
I’ll be happy to work with you. Keep in touch via the forum or you can send me an email to: Julie@julstro.com.
Wishing you well,
Julie Donnelly