i was going to post in GD but the sheer number of mouth breathers in there who had a bad back or neck will skew the stats of how f***** i am
11 days ago i managed to break myself, for real.  @ 40 years old.
Symptoms, pins needles in index finger and middle finger, fatigue, very tender and painful upper back/neck/. pressing on the neck lightly seems to appease the monster.

after 1 day i went to urgent care for muscle relaxers.
day 2 there was 0 improvement so i went to my general care DR. they did an Xray and found minor arthritis in my shoulder but nothing else

day 3 i called my dr and asked whats next as i have not slept for 3 nights now. cant lay down on side back or stomach. arm goes numb while in the recliner so i can maybe eek out 30-90 min of sleep before i wake up with the arm burning and a shot of adrenaline that is difficult to go back to sleep once hit with.

day 4 I was stubborn and tried telling myself im not injured. Use the force luke! f**** even the dark side didnt work.
day 5, doctor issues orders for a MRI, I get one scheduled the next day
Day 6 MRI day. I get the CD with imaging on it and send off to my BIL (neuro surgeon) and Godfather(Ortho surgeon, retired)   MRI confirms what BIL hypothesized based on my symptoms i provided over the phone days earlier.

What do i have? cervical radiculopathy, pinching a nerve.
how does it get fixed? conservative management, no sudden movements, no lifting stuff. etc
thats great and all but i supervise a factory, do apartment renovation on weekends and have a fledgling custom fabrication business as well

Im wondering if any of you have had this type of injury. What to expect for recovery time, if chiropractors are worthwhile to speed up the recovery.
re injury from sports like snow skiing, working construction like jobs, etc. google says this is a 50 year old person problem...


Cliffs:
im 40, under 200# and 6'3", former marathon runner and Ironman triathlete ( amateur speed for both) since retired when kids were born.
I did something dumb apparently and have cervical radiculopathy (slipped disc with a pinched nerve)
What should i expect in terms of recovery times and work during those times?

Welcome to my world. Been living with 2 of them for almost 30 years.

Do the PT and the home exercises.

Be aware of your neck position when you are sitting/lying down. Invest in a neck pillow.

If it acts up (and it will), don't mess around and go see the doc. Getting a lidocaine shot in a hot spot early will save you a lot of pain.

well shit
I am going to take this as a wake up call that im not invincible any more.
i will ask for the lidocaine shot tomorrow if possible as things are tight feeling. however i did go to one of the chiropractors that lightly pulls on the neck and releases to help work out the bulged disc. was super sore for a few hours after that but feel a LOT better now.
I plan on taking it very easy and working back into the swing of things. adding core strength training and yoga/stretching as i do none of that previously. just cycling 30 miles every saturday and whatever cardio my day job running a factory floor gives me

I had the same problem around your age, maybe a little earlier due to sitting at a desk all day.

I found a pain management facility that prescribed me Gabapentin and scheduled a steroid injection (live/realtime xray of the neck, so they can watch the needle into the spine area and watch the flow of meds around the area) into the affected area (same C6/C7).
The Gaba helps with nerve pain and the steroid reduces inflammation in the area.

Once all that kicked in, I was functional again and started PT (specialized in Mckenzie exercises for the neck.)
McKenzie exercises basically try to stretch the nerves and neck and kinda squish the disc back into place (kinda).
There are several. The ones that worked for me were the double chin one where you tuck your chin in, stretch the back of your neck up, then lean your head back.
The second one that worked was lengthening my spine and neck and holding my head away from the nerve affected hand (My right hand, so I leaned my head to the left and pull it down with my hand on the top of my head).

Anyway, all of that and I don't have any pain. I occasionally get nerve tingling in my finger and I start doing the exercises again. I'm not taking any Gaba or anything. Gaba worked great for me and I can start and stop it easily. It can mess up some people though. It was a game changer for me though, knocked out the nerve pain quickly. Other folks here have reported problems taking it (including suicidal thoughts). It worked great for me though. Much better than anything over the counter or even Oxcy/Percocet/tramadol etc. For the codine based stuff, it makes my skin itch if I take it for more than a day or two.

I have had a total of three steroid shots over the years IIRC. No spinal fusion or anything like that. I have a little residual numbness on the inside of my index finger and middle finger and the occasional neck pain, but again, I just start with the stretches again.

I also got a sit/stand desk and try to move around more during the day (office job) to keep things mobile.

ETA: The first specialty place I went to was an ortho sports medicine place. Of course, the ortho surgeon just wanted to schedule a fusion type deal. I asked for a reference to something non-surgical to start. They sent me to the pain facility that did the meds and steroid shot.

I just turned 39 and pinched a nerve overhead pressing in December. I’m sorry to tell you, but it was TERRIBLE. I couldn’t sleep for more than a few hours at a time for 2-3 weeks.

But, it eventually gets better.

I started light squatting and light pressing one week after in an effort to rehab it. It felt much better after a few weeks, but holy shit it sucked.

just a heads up.
spine decompression at a chiropractor is AMAZING
the one i went to has a machine that applies 18# of pressure to allow the spine to have a chance to reset.
did 2 sessions now and its a night and day difference
why TF didnt my dr or ortho dr mention this....