Conversation: The conversation between human and AI assistant.
[|Human|] The question is about my son. 18 yr old athlete. He was lifting weights doing an overhead press. He felt a pop or crack in his neck and some pain. very soon after that he got a Migrane headache. He has got them before when he didn t have good sleep habits. This Migrane seemed stronger than previous ones but he did not throw up. The next day he woke up with a very sore neck and numbness on the left side of his body. The numbness was in the back of his arm and down his leg. We took him to the hospital and he started a bunch of tests. MRI s, Echo, ect. Things they found were. The possibility of two very small dots on the occiptial lobe of the brain which they said could be there and if so could represent a stroke but also could not really be there. They said he has Chiari Type 1 which could be the cause. They don t believe there has been a disection of arteries in the neck according to MRI s. He did not have a PFO. We left the hospital yesterday with a wide range of possibilities from very scary to no big deal. He continues to have numbness in his left arm and leg. Also he hasn t had a stool movement for a couple of days which is atypical. My questions are 1. If its just a pinched nerve then how long would the numbness typically last. 2. from looking at the information on the web is it possible he had a Sporadic Hemiplegic Migraine (SHM) and if so how long does the numbness usually last in those cases. 3. Does the Chiari have an effect on the nervous system after an injury. The web seems contradictory in this area. 4. Can a stroke or mini stroke be associated with a minor neck injury. 5. How do we know if the chiari is affecting his nervous system. My son is a college football player and its a big part of his life. So this has the family very concerned.
[|AI|]  Hi, I passed carefully through your question and would explain that your sons symptoms could be related to a possible stroke. Regarding the pinched nerve in the neck, it would also cause irradiating pain in the arm, triggered by neck movements. So, I don't think this is the case. Besides, it would be signs of spinal canal compression or stenosis in the cervical spine MRI study.  Regarding the dots in the occipital lobe, there is a special sequence in MRI, which is called DWI, which can differentiate if they are acute or old.  Regarding Migraine, it could be migraine if the numbness recovered within 72 hours, but it is usually associated to motor deficits too. The Chiara malformation can trigger headache and neck pain during an injury, but it usually causes chronic signs like headache, dizziness, gait imbalance, etc. It does not lead to such acute clinical situation. Anyway a follow-up every 12 months with brain MRI is necessary to see if the cerebellar tonsils are in the same position or if there is presence of siringomyelia (which is a common complication of Chiara malformation). You should discuss with your doctor on the above issues.  Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.