Numbness after shoulder/cervical surgery

Numbness after shoulder/cervical surgery

Q:

Age: 42 Sex: M Concern: Chronic pain

Dear Dr. Tran,
I have had distal clavicular resection on BOTH shoulders, and in 2002 had C5-6 cervical discectomy and fusion. Recently, I have been waking up at night with numbness in my hands. If I sleep on my back with a roll under my neck, both hands go TOTALLY numb, and if I change to a fetal position, only my thumb and first two fingers go numb. Is this going to be more related to my cervical surgery, or possibly my shoulder surgeries? Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time,
Brett

-- Tigger50

A:

It is probably related to your neck surgery, but it could be due to irritation of the brachial plexus. You could ask your doctor to get an EMG/NCS test for you.

-- Sherman Nam Tran, M. D.

to ask Dr. Tran.