Expert: Dr. Victor Dolan, DC, DACBSP - 4/24/2008

Question
Sir,
I have been suffering from following symptoms for the last 2 months.
Shooting pain and tingling in left chest shoulders arms and legs.
Pain in my upper back.
Sometimes pain in my neck and severe pain in either side of my head.
Iam 27 years and work with computer for 8 hours a day approx. Is it because of lack of physical activities.
Request you to let me know the reason why I have the above pains and also kindly suggest me the effective treatments for the same.
Thanks,
Suresh

Answer
Suresh,

Sorry to hear of your pain and discomfort.  You mention 'pain and tingling'.  You mention 'either side of head', neck, left chest, shoulders, arms, legs.  Symptoms for the last 2 months. You are 27 years old.

You mention your left chest.  Do you have palpitations, a crushing pain, sweats, pain FROM the chest radiating anywhere, jaw pain, neck pain from the chest, shoulder/ arm pain from the chest, shortness of breath, are you overweight, athletic?  I am of course looking at your heart right now. Does the pain change or is it related to any position, posture or movement?  An in person exam/ history could better determine if this is an avenue to be explored.

You pinpoint 2 months ago.  Did something happen two months ago? or perhaps three months ago with a delay in the symptoms?  Did something happen, something change 2-3 months ago? injury, car accident, fall, job change, anything? even change your mattress ?

You pinpoint 2 months ago, has the pain come on gradually? gradually increasing? spreading? or is it getting better?  Does it seem to relate to any particular movement, action, activity, posture?
Does anything you do alleviate the pain, take any medication? rest? heat? ice? stretch?

'Pain and tingling' ALL OVER like that is not common.  I would certainly go to my family Doctor of Chiropractic (DC) or other health provider for an in depth, in person, physical evaluation.

Pain and tingling, any weakness, fatigue?  Does everywhere hurt all at once, or does it travel, is it different each day?

Your DC could perform a complete history, physical exam and order testing to fully evaluate you.  This diverse widespread pain and symptomatology could point to a central nervous system (CNS), brain based problem.  Perhaps even a metabolic organic problem.  It is also possible that even this widespread pain and symptom picture could come from your cervical spine.

I would examine you, send you for a comprehensive blood test evaluation, xray your spine for pathology and chiropractic analysis, and perhaps progress to a brain and or cervical spine (neck) MRI.

Your symptoms are diverse.  They could be coming from your brain, c-spine, or have some type of metabolic component.  With this wide an array of symptoms, I really cannot target one area, one factor to be evaluated.  A comprehensive evaluation is necessary.

It may be related to your prolonged posture at work, relating to your c-spine.  In that case Chiropractic would not only offer you an excellent evaluation, but an excellent treatment approach as well (adjustment/ treatment of the c-spine conservatively through chiropractic).  If this started with your computer work, we could take a long look at posture influencing your neck.  Break up the monotony at work. Change postures. Change the height of the chair. Change the height of the monitor.  Get up every 15 minutes for a brief walk down the hall, look out the window at a distant object for a minute.

Hope this helps you answer some of the questions in your own mind, it does represent what you will be asked in the doctor's office.

As always, this discussion is for informational purposes only. Visit your personal health care provider for specific exam and treatment. Thanks for the question, Good Luck, break up the monotony!

Wishing you Good Health, Naturally!

Vic Dolan, DC DACBSP
http://www.GoodHealthNaturally.info
http://www.DocDolan.net