I have a herniated c7 that gave me a fit three years ago. Play tennis regularly and started to run again. Back doesn t hurt anymore, never had surgery. Do weights 2 to 3 times a week. Only pain that never went away was thumb numbness that gets worse with weather. None of that bothers me. What concerns me is the erratic twitch of the muscle in my neck near my carotid artery. This started happening about three weeks ago and is very intermittment . My BP seems fine, and I don t think it is my heart speeding up, pulse remains normal. Worried it could be a verterbral dissection. I am 51 years old and have been on the internet too long. ha! I am also going through menopause so didn t know if it could be part of that.