Question
Maybe you can help figure out my problem.  First of all I am 57 yrs young and quite active.  Approx. 3 weeks ago I was out playing tennis.  I tossed up the ball to serve and instantly felt a sharp pain around the acromian.  I have never experienced anything like this before.  I continued to play despite the pain that gradually decreased as the match continued.  Now I have tingling that comes and goes aound the shoulder, clavicle and lateral side of my neck .   It does not cause pain nor radiates down my arm.  The chiropractor treatment did not help.  How should I handle this?  Would acupuncture help?

Answer
Mark,

The symptoms you're describing are common among a few conditions.   I'll list them:  Cervical spine disc herniation, Scalene muscle strain (and residual trigger point referral), costo-clavicular clavicular syndrome (strain, impingement and neurpraxia), and shoulder acute glenohumeral or subacromial impingement (with residual effect of paresthesia).     I am less likely to think your problem is a cervical disc, based on how you describe your ongoing symptoms since there is no referred pain into the inside border of your scapula in the upper back, and there are no finger paresthesias, but that doesn't rule it out completely.    "Chiropractic treatment" can mean anything, so it would be good to know what treatment consisted of.   Also, it would be helpful to know what the chiropractor did to diagnose the condition.   Or, did he/she fail to examine and come up with a list of diagnostic possibilities and just simply do joint manipulation to the neck?     More information would be helpful.   I doubt that acupuncture would help.   Likely, assuming your examination by the DC rules out cervical disc, soft tissue methods and combined methods (see:  www.faktr.com) would be the best.   

'Hope this was useful,

Dr. G'