Cervical Radiculopathy

Cervical radiculopathy is a pinched nerve in the neck. The nerve roots that branch off the spinal cord and travel down each arm pass through small openings in the spine; when something narrows that opening — a herniated disc (more common in younger people) or bony spurs from age-related arthritis (more common as you get older) — the nerve gets squeezed. The signal scrambles, and you feel pain, numbness, tingling, or weakness shooting from your neck down a specific path in your arm.

The two most-often affected levels are C6 (numbness in the thumb and index finger) and C7 (numbness in the middle finger, plus weakness when straightening your elbow).

The signature of cervical radiculopathy is pain that starts in your neck and travels down one arm in a specific track — the track tells your provider which nerve root is pinched. A C6 root sends pain and numbness into your thumb and index finger; a C7 root targets your middle finger; a C8 root reaches your ring and small fingers. Tilting or turning your head toward the painful side often makes it worse, because that motion narrows the bony opening the nerve passes through. Resting your hand on top of your head (the shoulder abduction relief sign) often takes the tension off the nerve and eases the pain.

Numbness and tingling tend to follow the same finger map as the pain. When the compression is significant enough to affect the motor fibers, you may notice weakness in a specific muscle group — difficulty raising your arm to the side (C5), a weak wrist that drops when you try to extend it (C6), trouble straightening your elbow or pushing open a heavy door (C7), or a weak grip (C8). Symptoms can come on suddenly after a disc herniation or build gradually over weeks as a bone spur slowly encroaches on the nerve.

Your surgeon will use the Spurling test — tilting and gently rotating your head toward the painful side while pressing down — to try to reproduce your symptoms; if it does, the diagnosis is essentially confirmed. Lifting the head usually relieves the pain. MRI of the cervical spine shows exactly which nerve root is being compressed and by what. EMG and nerve conduction studies are added when more than one level is suspected or when surgery is being planned.

Surgery helps only a small minority of spine patients — usually those with a specific structural problem plus a nerve issue that isn’t getting better with a structured non-operative trial. When that step is genuinely warranted, OSI coordinates it the same way we coordinate every other part of your care: imaging, records, and the handoff are handled for you, so no part of the process falls on your shoulders.

Emergency. Sudden loss of hand dexterity, worsening balance, arm or leg weakness, or loss of bladder or bowel control can reflect spinal-cord compression — go to the nearest emergency department rather than waiting for a clinic appointment.

External patient-education references and related OSI pages for additional background:

• Britannica — Vertebral column
• AAOS OrthoInfo — patient education library
• OSI glossary — orthopedic terminology in plain language