Question
I pulled a muscle in my back (right hand side, near the center) three days ago.  The pain is really bad and I also have numbness in my right arm down through my hand.  I have tried advil but that isn't working for the pain.  The only thing so far that seems to be helping is heat.  But when I don't have the heat on it, it continues to hurt a lot and the pain is making me feel sick to my stomach at times.  Like when I move wrong and sometimes at night when I am trying to sleep.  

Answer
I can not give you an exact diagnosis without proper tests, but it sounds like you pulled a muscle, which in turn could have caused some misalignment in you vertebrae causing some nerve irritation causing the symptoms you are experiencing.  My suggestions would be to use ICE instead of heat, this will reduce the inflammation to the muscles, and then look into seeing a chiropractor to help with the muscle issues and possible vertebral misalignment.  If you don't already see a chiropractor and you are interested, go to www.sorsi.com to locate a doctor near you.  If you are in Minnesota near the Twin Cities, look me up by going to my website at www.healinghandschiro.com or my may email me back here with any other questions or concerns.

Dr. Starbuck