HI Caz,
I found out I had Osteo Arthritis back in the early 1990s and used to go for physio twice a week on my neck, back then they thought it was ok to put me on traction and stretch my neck, this felt great at the time and freed off my neck which was in spasm all the time then, now I've been told it wasn't the right thing to do and has damaged my nerves in my neck, this causes me to get headaches and tingling down the underside of my arms and into my hands and numbness in my fingers, but what it also gave me was shortness of breath when walking up slight slopes and pains in my chest, I was sent to see the cardiologist and he told me it was caused by nerves in my neck, I used to walk up hills looking down to try to fool my head into thinking i was walking on a flat surface,
but it didn't work. Over the years I got used to the pains and never thought it was my heart then when I moved to Newcastle last year the doctor there asked me about my aches and pains and I told him about the usual ones but at the time I was getting pains in my jaw too when walking which I hadn't had before so he sent me to the RVI in Newcastle to see a cardiologist who confirmed again it was my neck causing the symptoms. I have this treated by the physio dept when I have a flare up and they give me accupuncture which frees it off great.
Sorry its a long winded post but I thought it would help you see what was the cause and if you hurt your neck too maybe its the same for you.
Regards Eileen x
