If you’ve been feeling a sharp, burning or electric pain that starts in your neck and shoots down your arm, you may be dealing with cervical radiculopathy, which most people call a pinched nerve in the neck. For most patients, it gets better without surgery.

What Is Cervical Radiculopathy? Defining a Pinched Nerve in the Neck

Your cervical spine, the seven bones in your neck, protects your spinal cord and gives nerve roots a path to your shoulder, arm and hand. When one of those roots gets compressed or irritated, the signals it carries get disrupted, producing the pain, numbness and weakness you feel in your arm. That’s cervical radiculopathy.

It affects roughly 83 out of every 100,000 people each year, most commonly men and those in their 50s. The good news is that most cases resolve with the right conservative care, without ever needing surgery.

Cervical Radiculopathy Symptoms and Signs

Radiating Arm Pain

Each nerve root follows a specific path down the arm, so when it’s compressed, pain travels that route too. That radiating quality is what distinguishes cervical radiculopathy symptoms from ordinary neck or muscle pain. You might feel burning, aching or electric pain running from your neck into your shoulder, forearm or fingers, often worsened by rotating your neck toward the painful side.

Numbness and Tingling

Alongside pain, many people notice numbness, tingling or a pins-and-needles feeling in the arm or hand. Where you feel it helps pinpoint exactly which nerve root is involved. Two of the most common patterns include:

• Numbness in the thumb and index finger often points to the C6 nerve root
• Tingling in the middle finger is typically associated with C7, the most affected level

Muscle Weakness and Reflex Changes

Sometimes the compression is significant enough to affect muscle strength or your reflexes. Your physician will test specific muscle groups and check tendon reflexes during the exam.  These are among the most reliable signs for pinpointing which nerve root is involved. Depending on the level, you might notice weakness in the wrist or triceps, or a reduced reflex response.

Common Causes of Cervical Pinched Nerve in Neck

Two structural problems account for most cases, and which one applies to you often depends on your age.

Wear and Tear Over Time (Cervical Spondylosis)

Degenerative change is the leading cause of cervical radiculopathy. The Rochester epidemiological study found that spondylosis, disc degeneration or both accounted for roughly 68 percent of cases.

As discs lose height over time, the openings through which your nerve roots pass narrow, and the spine forms bone spurs that can press against a root. The gradual onset of symptoms in patients over 50 usually points here.

A Herniated Disc

In younger patients, a herniated disc is more often the culprit. Each disc has a tough outer layer and a softer center. When the center pushes through, it can press against a nearby nerve root. The disc material also triggers inflammation around the nerve, which is why arm pain from a herniation can feel so intense.

Non-Surgical Cervical Radiculopathy Treatment at UOA

Most patients with cervical radiculopathy never need surgery. At University Orthopaedic Associates, our interventional physiatry and pain management team focuses on finding the source of your nerve pain and treating it without putting you on an operating table.

Getting an Accurate Diagnosis First

Before we treat anything, we need a clear picture of what’s causing your symptoms. Our on-site diagnostics include two nerve tests that are particularly useful for neck pain and arm symptoms:

• Electromyography (EMG) checks how well your muscles are responding to nerve signals
• Nerve conduction studies (NCS) measure how quickly signals are traveling through your nerves

Together, these tests confirm which root is affected and rule out other conditions, like carpal tunnel syndrome or peripheral neuropathy, that can feel similar. An MRI adds the structural detail, showing whether a herniated disc or narrowed opening is causing the compression.

Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation

For most people, this is where real improvement starts. Our Center for Rehabilitation and Sports Excellence builds a program tailored to your specific nerve root level. We work on posture, restoring movement in your neck and strengthening the muscles that support it. When appropriate, cervical traction may also be used to gently reduce pressure on the compressed nerve.

Cervical Epidural Steroid Injections

If your pain isn’t responding well to therapy and medication alone, a cervical epidural steroid injection may help. This puts anti-inflammatory medication directly at the affected nerve root rather than relying on oral medication to reach it.

About half of patients get significant relief from the procedure. Our physicians perform these using imaging guidance to ensure precise, safe placement.

Medication Management

Anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs) are usually the starting point. They reduce both pain and the inflammation around the nerve. A short course of oral steroids may be added for more acute cases. Our team steers away from opioid-based treatment and works with you to find the right approach for your specific situation.

If arm pain, tingling or weakness is tracing back to your neck, our team at University Orthopaedic Associates can help. We see patients with cervical radiculopathy at our offices in Somerset, Princeton, Wall, Woodbridge, Morganville and Monroe. Contact us to get started.