Dear Medical Solutions,
I had a car accident last March and had right shoulder and arm pain that ran down to my fingers. I went to the emergency room after the accident and the Doctor told me I had a shoulder sprain and gave me pain medication. It felt better when I took the medication initially, but the pain gradually got worse. I went to the General Practitioner who took and x-ray of my shoulder and told me it was fine. He gave me more pain medication and told me that the pain would go with rest and time. I would have good days and bad days, but the pain was bearable. Last month I had a cold, was coughing hard, and one time I coughed my shoulder and arm pain increased, and I experienced severe neck and right arm pain. I went to the emergency room and they did an MRI of my neck which showed that I had a slipped disc, pinching the nerve. Could this disc problem have been there since the motor vehicle accident?

Answer:
Absolutely. The symptoms you were experiencing after the motor vehicle accident were probably due to the disc injury. Often times a person could have an accident such as whiplash injury, and could have a “progressive slipping” of a disc. A patient may present with minimal to no neck pain or stiffness and have predominately shoulder and/or arm pain. There are certain orthopedic tests that should be performed during the examination
after a person sustains a motor vehicle accident that will confirm or negate the possibility of a disc injury. If these tests are not performed, often times disc injuries are undetected and a seriousness of the injury is not discovered until the symptoms increase.