Medical Questions » Neck Questions » Question No. 719
| Question: | My husband has had problems with his neck for eleven years, which causes pain and stiffness down his right side. The doctor says his extra pair of ribs is a problem. Can this explain his shoulder pain? |
| Answer: | In a small percentage of people, a pair of accessory ribs grow out from the base of the neck. These are usually very short, and serve no useful purpose, but may sometimes interfere with the normal path of a nerve from the spinal cord in the neck to the shoulder and arm.
Most of these accessory ribs are only discovered when a patient complains of symptoms such as your husband' s, and an X-ray is performed.
The extra rib may be responsible for pain in the neck, shoulder and arm, but not other parts of the body.
Treatments may include anti-inflammatory medications, physiotherapy, injections around the affected nerve, and surgical removal of the additional rib.
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