neck and shoulder pain

  Dear Sir:
  I strained my neck and back muscles in 2-98 at work lifting repetively 5 to 6 tons of mail a day. I started going to my HMO doctor and he kept putting me on more drugs each time I went.  I was taking soma, arthotec, ultram, antivan and exflexor.  The drugs were only masking the pain and I was being sent back to work.  I have continued to have neck and back pain until I have reached the point that my neck is almost completely rigid and makes crunching sounds when I try to move it to the side.  I have extreme pain at times that doesn't go away for weeks.  I have alot of muscle swelling in my shoulders that sometimes goes into my arms and hands.  The only way I can make the pain go away is by doing as little as possible.  When I use my hands or move my head very often the pain and swelling increases and my neck muscles fill like concrete.  Also I have a burning sensation in my shoulders.  I have been to several specialist.  They do not give me any test, they are say it is a muscle strain and refer me to physical therapy which ends up putting me in bed with extreme pain for days on end.  I am now seeing my third specialist which did perform a emg on me which showed that I have pinced nerves but he didn't say where and has sent to physical therapy again which again is making my symtoms (symptoms) worse.  I also have been to a chiropractor and he says I have myofascia which the other specialist agrees on but is treating it like a muscle strain.  Also the chiropractor insist on putting my neck in traction and cracking it.  Will this harm me and is there anything I can do to find out what this is because I have given up on my doctors.  I am at the point now that I am unable to do things as simple as writing a letter or using this computor without experiencing pain and swelling and my neck going rigid.
  I would appreciate any info you could give me.
  Thank you.
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Dear Reta:
Your symptomatology, and also your impression of the results of the specialist evaluations you have had, makes me suspect that you have significant degenerative disease (spondylosis) of your cervical spine, likely associalted with some mild or moderate compression or pinching of nerve roots. You have had a fair amount of conservative treatment with physical therapy without benefit, and you are on numerous medications for pain control. In such a situation, a MRI scan of the cervical spine is usually indicated (you do not mention having had it). This MRI san would be done to look for or exclude major narrowing or pinching of cervical roots, so as to decide you your case is appropriate for surgery. Surgery is commonly indicated for intractible pain and/or motor weakness that can be reliably atributed to pinching of a nerve root in the cervical spine , and would also be indicated for a compression of the spinal cord (symptoms of which you do not have). Surgery commonly helps relieve symptoms, but this is not always the case.
I would strongly dissuade you against any manipulation or traction of the cervcial spine. Chiropractic interventions have been anecdotally reported to cause serious complications, such as tears in blood vessels.
Good luck!