A radiculopathy is the term given when impingement/pressure is severe enough to stop a nerve root working.  The most common functions to be affected in the neck are shoulder, elbow and hand movements and sensation around the hand and forearm and shoulder. (In the leg, it is usually movement of the foot and sensation around the lower leg which is affected though it may affect the thighs.) Most times radiculopathy is painful – in the arm this is called brachalgia and in the leg sciatica. The most common cause of a cervical radiculopathy is a cervical disc prolapse or cervical spondylosis.