[silver_pilate]

Hmmm...ok. That little quick test doesn't completely rule out hypomobility, but short of segmental testing, I couldn't tell you more on that.

Here comes another guess and a very simplified, if not a bit of a tedious explanation....

When I went back and looked at your previous posts, I noticed you said that you had a problem with your hand going numb and white when working for a while or driving. Does this still bother you? Sounds alot like thoracic outlet syndrome. Pretty common as well. Don't know that I've seen or heard of any cases that cause referal of numbness to the skull, but anything can happen in the human body it seems.

You see, as you move from far away from your body, let's say at your fingertips, you have many many nerve endings that send signals to your brain. These are very organized and specific, and thus you have really good sensation at the periphery like your hands and feet. So if I touched your hand, you would be able to tell me exactly where I touched it. In the same token, if you had a fracture in your wrist, you would be able to pinch the area with your fingers and say, "it hurts right here" and that would be where the problem is. However, as you move closer and closer to the body, the number of nerve endings decreases dramatically. The accuity of sense deminishes and you get all kinds of funny referal patterns. For instance, pain in your mid thoracic area may be a result of problems in your liver. You get my drift. So it's hard to say, without special testing, what is causing problems close in to the trunk.

Back to thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS). In this phenomenon, the brachial plexus (a very large grouping of nerves which goes to and innervates the arm and shouler) gets pinched somewhere along the line. It can occur between the clavical and the first rib, or between the scalene muscles, or under the acromion of the shoulder, and several other places not worth mentioning here. Since this occurs in close proximity to the trunk, we see strange referal patterns as well. In the case of true vascular TOS, the blood vessels running with the nerve bundle is also compressed, cutting of supply to the arm. This results in symptoms like you describe. The old test for this is to check the pulse at your wrist with your arm in a resting position, and then straighten your arm out and have it pulled out horizontally and behind your back and see if the pulse is deminished. This is pretty rare, and that test is no longer the clinical choice. Anyway, other forms of TOS can also mimick your symptoms. TOS isn't anything all that serious, but it can be annoying over time. Many people experience what is known as a release phenomenon where they awoken several hours after having gone to sleep by tingling and numbness in their hands. The loss of sleep can cause increased stress and mood changes over a long course of time. Some people never actually wake up, but their sleep is still disturbed.

As a hairdresser, you are prone to thoracic outlet syndrome because of the constant use of your arms and possible affected posture from working all day in various extended and overhead positions.

Once again, this is another guess. Without evaling you, it's like trying to diagnose a tick in someone elses engine over the phone.

As for compressed discs, there's always the possibility of that happening, but the referal patterns don't match up that well and there would likely be pain with certain movement patterns. Once again, I'd have to see you to tell. The area you describe is innervated mainly by C1 and C2 while the neck is more C3. These upper cervical segmants of C0-C2 don't have discs, and therefore can't be compressed.

Sorry if this is boring or long, but I've always lived under the philosophy that if you understand what the problem is, it's easier for you to work on fixing it. Good luck and keep me posted. I'll help if I can.

--nathan, SPT