[greypoet]

#5787

About 1965 at age 15, I was a passenger in a car accident. I received damage to most of the left side of my brain and also the brain stem. I 1998 I found I had had a Traumatic Brain Injury.
Fast forward to 18 months ago (approx). While playing with my granddaughter she pulled and twisted my head resulting in major pain and a crunching sound.

I have been telling various doctors for the last 40 odd years that when I turn my head right or left a few degrees I start getting a headache but until this latest incident was not taken seriously. Since this incident, and telling my doctor that it sounds like chewing on gristle when I turn My head, I had an MRI which showed the disc at c5-6 was pressing on the spinal cord.

After the car accident I was diagnosed (among a multitude of other things)with bilateral tremors thought, at that time, to be genetically related. There had been no other occurrences of tremors in any of my predecessors.

My questions are, could these tremors and headaches have been caused by disc herniation and, because of the elapsed time, could a disc replacement or fusion make a difference?

Thank you for your response and for this so helpful forum.

[Donald Corenman, MD, DC]

#5788

When turing your head, the facets in the back of your neck slide on each other. If you have wear of the cartilaginous surfaces (they should be smooth and frictionless), you will hear what sounds like “sand” or “gristle” grinding together.

Facet arthritis can very well cause headaches. This type of headache starts in the base of the skull and radiates up over the head. The disc hernation can also cause the same type of headache. If these headaches do not originate from the base of the neck, they might not be of cervical origin.

Tremors generally are not caused by the cervical spine but originate centrally (from the brain itself).

You need a work-up from a knowledgeable spine surgeon to determine the origin of the headaches.

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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