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C6-C7 syndrome: My clinical experience & suggestions

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Many confuse marked tenderness at the coracoid tip, lateral pectoral and medial elbow sites to be a variant of fibromyalgia however usually it comes along with tenderness at the C6-7 level in the cervical spine. A close look in to the history reveals in this group of patients lose tenderness at C5-6 and standard upper body sites with proper neck support during sleep, but remained symptomatic at coracoid tip, lateral pectoral, medial elbow and C6-C7. Smythe HA (1994) have supported that mechanical factors determine patterns of symptoms and tenderness in this group. This implies that we are talking of segmental referred pain or referred tenderness rather than a pathologically ill-defined spectrum called “fibromyalgia”. If we differ on this front our treatment strategy is mislead. That’s why centrally acting medications or behavioral modifications are equally disappointing outcomes. To add to that tricyclic medications, stretch and spray or trigger point injections may be simply