Cervical Instability C1 C2

Tagged: cervical instability

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pete1220
Member

January 11, 2015 at 5:49 am

Post count: 12

#11997

Oh and forgot one of my main symptoms. I have an extremely odd sensation as i turn my head left to right “no motion”, its as if the muscles nerves in my face especially around mu nose region get iritaded as a turn my head. I also have a sensitive scalp like the nerves going to that region are on overdrive. And lastly, I get an intermittent sensation iritation in the back of my throat often.

dawn marie
Member

January 11, 2015 at 11:39 am

Post count: 2

#11999

hello, I just created an account so I could respond to your post. I have C1 and C2 problems from 2 prior accidents over the years. I have all the symptoms of someone with MS. After going from dr to dr, chiro to chiro.. I found a website for Atlas Orthogonal. I checked it out and found a dr in my state, there were only 5 here in Minnesota. Long story short. My atlas (c1 and my C2 are shifted, and this procedure has been nothing short of a miracle for me. I have ligament instability as well, but in time, they will become stronger. There is no cracking or twisting of the neck with atlas orthogonal technique. Please take the time to google it. It is absolutely life changing. Good luck :)

dawn marie
Member

January 11, 2015 at 11:48 am

Post count: 2

#12000

I should mention my symptoms quick. Tired, brain fog, dizzy, nausea, legs feel heavy, head ache , back ache, neck ache , ringing in ears, light and sound bother me , burning in hands and feet. Memory problems. These are all related to the top bone in your neck C1 BEING shifted. Since I started my treatments 3 months ago…they are about 50/75% better already. :)

Donald Corenman, MD, DC
Moderator

January 12, 2015 at 10:17 am

Post count: 8660

#12007

A lot of new threads introjected here. It would be helpful if someone has a new inquiry that you start a new thread so I don’t get mixed up. I will try to answer the various questions here.

To Patrice; I cannot recommend surgeons that I do not know the success rate but if you are careful and discerning, you should be able to figure out who you can trust. Again, call some previous patients.

To pete 1220: You have a compilation of symptoms that could be instability, vascular injury to the vertebral artery or lower brain stem injury. I assume you have had standard flexion/extension X-rays (probably multiple times) and even a CT scan of the upper neck in flexion, extension and lateral rotation to both sides.

In my opinion, prolotherapy requires an injection of damaging fluid into areas that are quite sensitive. I would be afraid of injury to a structure in the upper neck that would be irreversible.

To dawn marie: chiropractic therapy can be effective with many disorders but with instability, this treatment is contraindicated. Now since we do not know if instability is present, this needs to be ruled out before any chiropractic attempts at treatment are considered.

Dr. Corenman

PLEASE REMEMBER, THIS FORUM IS MEANT TO PROVIDE GENERAL INFORMATION ON SPINE ANATOMY, CONDITIONS AND TREATMENTS. TO GET AN ACCURATE DIAGNOSIS, YOU MUST VISIT A QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL IN PERSON.

Donald Corenman, MD, DC is a highly-regarded spine surgeon, considered an expert in the area of neck and back pain. Trained as both a Medical Doctor and Doctor of Chiropractic, Dr. Corenman earned academic appointments as Clinical Assistant Professor and Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and his research on spine surgery and rehabilitation has resulted in the publication of multiple peer-reviewed articles and two books.

pete1220
Member

January 12, 2015 at 11:09 am

Post count: 12

#12008

Dr Corenman, unfortunately, as I stated in the post I have not had a CT scan of my neck. I have had 3 cervical MRIs one with flexion and extension and I have had a digital motion X ray study(results in the post), along with a plethora of static x-ray shots. I am scared of getting a CT cervical scan because I have had two brain CT scans and one adrenal CT scan in the past 5 months, this combined with the DMX and all the xrays I feel I have been exposed to a ton of radiation. How would I diagnose lower brain stem injury? How would I diagnose vertebral artery injury? I had a carotid and vertebral Doppler but I’m assuming that does not look high enough. -thanka for you’re help.

Donald Corenman, MD, DC
Moderator

January 13, 2015 at 10:08 pm

Post count: 8660

#12019

To diagnose a vertebral artery disorder along with cervical instability, the test is a vertebral angiogram CT scan. Dye is injected into the vein which temporarily lights up the arteries and veins on the CT scan. Then, the head is rotated to one side (both sides are eventually performed) and a CT scan of the upper neck is completed.

This scan will look at both the vascular anatomy (is the vertebral artery being compressed with motion?) and are the upper vertebra remaining stable with motion? Yes-the scan requires more radiation but is the only way I know to diagnose these two disorders.

Doppler images are not effective to look at the vertebral arteries as these arteries are incased in bone and not visible on ultrasound images.

Dr. Corenman

PLEASE REMEMBER, THIS FORUM IS MEANT TO PROVIDE GENERAL INFORMATION ON SPINE ANATOMY, CONDITIONS AND TREATMENTS. TO GET AN ACCURATE DIAGNOSIS, YOU MUST VISIT A QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL IN PERSON.

Donald Corenman, MD, DC is a highly-regarded spine surgeon, considered an expert in the area of neck and back pain. Trained as both a Medical Doctor and Doctor of Chiropractic, Dr. Corenman earned academic appointments as Clinical Assistant Professor and Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and his research on spine surgery and rehabilitation has resulted in the publication of multiple peer-reviewed articles and two books.
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Donald Corenman, MD, DC

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81 reviews

Eric S

Sep 26, 2021

by Eric S on Donald Corenman, MD, DC

Successful pars repair at 46 years old

Back in November of 2018 (at 46 years old) I came from Vancouver BC to have a pars repair done with Dr. Donald Corenman at the Steadman Clinic in Vail Colorado. I'm finally posting this review nearly three years later in late 2021. The reason I waited so long was I wanted to know the final result before I posted my review. Unfortunately in that time Dr. Corenman has retired. Nevertheless, I want to post this review of Dr. Corenman and his staff at the Steadman Clinic in their excellent treatment of my L5 pars interarticularis.

I fractured my pars at age 42 back in 2014 when rolling on the gym floor, and was denied treatment by the Canadian healthcare system, probably due to my age. First my GP told me there was no surgical option for a pars defect, which was quite incorrect! I tried to live with it, but the symptoms worsened (periodic random spine slippage and weeks of resultant pain after just bending over to tie my shoe, so I eventually learned to mostly squat and hardly bend). When I finally consulted with Canadian spine surgeons, I was told they believed my pars defect had been congenital (since birth). This was absurd, considering I had done extreme martial arts (including jiu jitsu) for years prior, as well as 5 years of reinforcing steel full time in my 20s, probably the hardest job on the back you can find. No pars defect like mine would possibly have allowed this--ergo it was impossible that I had had the defect since birth. I did however have an asymptomatic congenital spina bifida occulta that made me more susceptible to a pars fracture. In 2014 in one instant, I went from having the strongest back people I knew said they'd ever seen, to being unable to safely bend over and tie my shoe without a non-negligible risk of my spine slipping randomly (which would lead to weeks of pain after each occurrence). This was due to the unilateral L5 pars defect, otherwise known as spondylolysis. It was when lying in pain on the floor 4 years later after maybe the 6th spine slippage event post injury, that I had had enough, and resolved to have surgery. If Canada's "universal health care" said no, I would make lemonade from lemons, and find the very best surgeon in the world at pars repairs. That was Dr. Donald Corenman. Dr. Corenman back in 2018 ran a website https://neckandback.com/ that dedicated many pages to the science of every aspect of pars repairs, from eligibility (good discs on MRI), to best surgical techniques (minimal open compared to minimally invasive), best imaging to use (i.e., O-Arm with Stealth imaging vs. older fluoroscopy), the ideal amount of BMP to use and why not use too much or too little, and much more, all to do with pars repairs, pages upon pages of his site just on the pars, with scientific references and his own extensive expert opinion. As a health research statistician, I was very impressed with this. It was in stark contrast to the websites of other spine surgeons which barely gave the pars a word or two, focusing almost exclusively on fusions. I had found the best surgeon in the world for pars repairs, and so after Dr. Corenman personally screened my MRI to ensure my discs were healthy, I booked the surgery.

Being 46 years old at the time of surgery in 2018, with a 4-year-old pars fracture from 2014 combined with a congenital SBO meant my pars fragment was somewhat atrophied, but it was "very solid", said Dr. Corenman in the operative report. Nevertheless, it was challenging with two things to fix, the pars and SBO, and OR time was around 4 hours. Recovery over the following months was guided by a very clear "Spine binder" from the Steadman Clinic with strict rules of "no BLT" (no bending, lifting or twisting), and illustrated physiotherapy guidelines. They even warned patients to avoid fish oil supplements, which could excessively dampen inflammation and hence slow bone healing. They answered many questions I had during months of recovery, with responses coming from the very supportive Lori Fugate (then director of Dr. Corenman's practice), and Ehrich Bean (then physician's assistant at the practice), as well as a couple calls with Dr. Corenman himself after two of the CT scans. Ehrich Bean offered great advice for taking the spine binder conservatively due to the nature of pars repairs vs. fusions. The final post-op CT scan I had was a couple weeks ago at 34 months post-op, and Dr. Corenman had retired, but I got a very positive and informative call from Eric Strauch (current PA at the Steadman Clinic under Dr. Corenman's replacement there, and who had also worked with Dr. Corenman previously). The staff at the Steadman Clinic were extremely supportive all the way through the process. I should mention, the local Canadian spine surgeon did offer me very good post-operative support including antibiotics as needed to deal with a mild surface incision-site infection early on, booking numerous x-rays when I felt something was amiss, as well as booking all four of my post-op CT scans. I am very grateful for that support also.

My final result shows plenty of solid bone across the pars and a healed SBO, with my vertebral body now a solid bone ring instead of being broken at two places as it was pre-op. Does my spine hold up in the real world? You bet! I have recently dug and moved several yards of dirt and sand and gravel by myself (shovel and wheelbarrow!) to fix our water main, pulled roots from the yard, moved several "portable" (these are HUGE) air conditioners up several flights of stairs my myself, and lifted weights. I now run 2 miles (3.2 KM) several times weekly with a hard 100 meter dash in the middle. I bend deeply before each run I go on, with no spine slippage. My spine feels amazing. I can bend over to do exercise, or real word tasks, with no risk of spine slippage.

My sincere thanks to God, Dr. Donald Corenman, Lori Fugate, Ehrich Bean, Eric Strauch, and the Steadman Clinic, as well as the Canadian spine surgeon who offered me excellent post-operative care back in Canada. You have all given me a new lease on life.

Sincerely,
Eric S

Robert S

May 11, 2021

by Robert S on Donald Corenman, MD, DC

Back Fusion Surgery

I had my entire lumbar spine fused in November of 2018. I had scoliosis , with pinched nerves that were so painful I could hardly walk - and standing for more than a few minutes was impossible. Even sitting was painful.
The fusion surgery produced immediate relief! And the recovery was much easier than I expected.
To this day I can do all the activities I love from hiking, to standing in a stream fly fishing to riding my bike long distances - or just walking down the street with my wife.
Kudos to Dr. Corenman and his staff, (including the two Erics) for taking such good care of me!

Leslie R

Jul 9, 2020

by Leslie R on Donald Corenman, MD, DC

TLIF

I had my TLIF surgery on 6/24/2020 by Dr. Corenman, I can not say enough good things about the Dr or his staff. I was always treated with respect and explained everything throughly, that made it easy for everyone to understand. I highly recommend Dr. Corenman and the Steadman Clinic.

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