neck problems

[Guest guest]

Been the doc many times with plaque psoriasis and the arthritis. But

its my neck they can't really pinpoint. In the past five years or so my

neck has just quit on me, with no movement left to right or up and

down. Leaving my head looking straight down. Just makeing life

miserable. Looking at the ground most of the time just sucks. The more

I am in public trying to look like normal, the more I suffer the

following days.

[Guest guest]

thank you for the info I will check it out

[Guest guest]

>

> Matt,

> Have you been given medicine and used it?

have taken methotrexate and some anti-inflam. it has just progressed.

dealing with or not dealing with county medical has made it difficult.

only hurting myself in the long run for being stubborn and not being

consistent.

[Guest guest]

Before revision my neck/upper thoracic wasn't discussed with Dr. Hey because I wasn't having problems with it. I have had problems in the past with pinched nerves but it seems to come and go. But now with the lack of mobility in my lower back and hips, my neck has become an issue again. I'm not sure if Dr. Hey would ever suggest extending the fusion up or not. I will be sure to discuss it with him when I go for my one year follow up in May.

Peggy

[ ] neck problems

I saw the chiropractor yesterday who took x-rays above the Harrington rod fusion and immediately developed them and went over them with me. What I already knew - the severe DDD has gotten worse. I contacted Dr. Hey and his PA, Jaclyn, and I have included her response to me based on the x-rays they have taken there. I am going to proceed with physical therapy and posture work. I will also take time each night to get in my cervical traction unit that was purchased several years ago. I have already contacted Mark (my cute and single PT) and he said he was expected me to come back with problems above the fusion due to my new posture in the lumbar area. :-)

Peggy

Ms. Greene,

I did go back and look at your xrays from when you were here in November. You do have degenerative changes in your neck and upper thoracic spine. Those are most significant at C5-6 and C6-7. Although I also see some at C7-T1 and T1-2. It is harder to see these because your arms are raised and blocking the full few.

I would stick more with therapy/ chiropractor type treatment for the pain.

If you experiencing pain radiating down your arms then I agree that an MRI might be necessary.

However, injections into the neck area are very risky because of the spinal cord and we often do not recommend them.

I definitely wouldn’t recommend them if just for the degeneration.

Cervical traction can be very helpful and it doesn’t fix the degeneration but can help the pain.

Over time the body can heal across those degenerative levels.

You actually already have a lot of bone spurs (osteophytes forming) and that is proof the body is trying to heal it.

It manual traction through chirproctor and/ or therapist plus home traction helps the pain then it doesn’t really matter what the xrays look like.

Now if you are having progressive arm pain, numbness/ tingling or trouble with fine motor skills and that doesn’t improve with the conservative things then an MRI would definitely be needed.

Hope this helps some.

Jaclyn