Question
My back hurts me all day long. It is worse at night and early morning. I also wake up and my arms are numb and tingling. Sometimes it is so bad that I can not hold or grasp anything for 10 to 15 minutes upon waking up. I have never been in an accident or anything to cause this.

Answer
Dear Lisa,

I think you need to have your spine examined.  Without going into a lot of superfluous details, the symptoms you are reporting are neurological in nature.  When you have numbness and tingling into the arms, the problem is usually in the neck and in connection with the spinal nerves that exit there.  

The fact that you cannot hold or grasp things for 15 minutes at a time after waking is not good.  In addition, you should also have your perfusion (blood supply to the hands) checked.  The blood supply can be altered or constricted in the area where the upper arms connect to the neck (thoracic outlet). This can easily be checked with a few simple tests in the office by the doctor.

I would suggest that you go to a local chiropractic physician, and have the neck evaluated with a functional, neurological and radiographic examination.  This should give you more information on the anatomical structures involved and what means may be necessary to alleviate them.
The fact that you have not been in an accident is not important, postural stress over time can be enough to cause problems such as these, and if that has been ruled out other more complex issues may be to blame.  This all needs to be evaluated to make sure that the cause is not serious.

Go get it checked out...soon!

Respectfully,
Dr. J. Shawn Leatherman
www.suncoasthealthcare.net