server neck pain!! PLEASE HELP!!

Tagged: Neck pain and anxiety

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RipScooter
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November 26, 2015 at 4:09 am

Post count: 7

#20843

I am a 34 female, 4 years ago I started have back problems, in 2012 have a MRI of my lower back, it came back 3 bulging disc. Exactly one year later I had another MRI of my lumbar and cervical spine. Which showed, loss of cervical lordosis, DDD, uncovertebral and facet disease, with minimal spurring. I started facet joint injections with triggers. Those didn’t help so we switched to epidural injection, which has gotten to be no help at all. For the past 6 months or so I have been getting extreme pressure in my head with headaches, dizziness, and it feels like something is pushing on the back of the right side of my throat, let me also mention most of my neck pain comes from the right side. I just got a new MRI waiting on the results from that. But I am wondering what could be causing the pressure and the feeling like something is pushing on the back of my throat? When the pushing feeling is there it sometimes feels kinda hard to breath but not really, more like a small choking feeling but still about to move air. Hard to explain that part. I also been having pain and weakness down both arms with the upper arm feels like a deep bruise. My doctor said it wasn’t a new symptom but it was just the arthritis, but i demanded a new MRI cause I feel something is wrong. Could something be causing these symptoms or am I just losing my mind with all this pain? Please help…

Donald Corenman, MD, DC
Moderator

November 26, 2015 at 12:51 pm

Post count: 8660

#20845

Neck pain, arm pain and weakness can result from nerve compression (see cervical radiculopathy) but can also originate from degenerative discs and facets. Headaches, if neck originated, can occur from the facets at C2-4. The feeling of something pushing on the back of your throat is not typical of a symptom caused by a cervical disorder (unless you have a large bone spur projecting off the front of the neck-rare).

Some patients develop an anxiety disorder due to pain which can cause “globus”, a symptom of throat constriction. Look this up on the web as I have not written about this (yet).

The MRI will be helpful but a good history and physical examination by an expert will be as helpful if not much more helpful to determine your disorder.

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.

RipScooter
Participant

November 26, 2015 at 8:34 pm

Post count: 7

#20848

Thank you so much for your response. I have a CD copy of my MRI as which I am NO doctor or radiologist to read then. But I have researched on how to read them. With that and not knowing exactly which part of the c-spine I am looking at on the down up view, but from what I can tell I have about 3 or 4 places where the nerve roots and vessels travel through the small holes, well they are completely blacked out as it may look like nerve compression. But as I said I am not one that knows how to read a MRI, this was just the researching I found on how to read MRIs via yours and a few other doctors videos on MRIs. Hope I find out soon exactly what is going on. I honestly don’t know how much more I can take with this pain. Thank you once again, Hope you had a great Thanksgiving.

Donald Corenman, MD, DC
Moderator

November 27, 2015 at 5:36 am

Post count: 8660

#20849

My thanksgiving was great-thank you.

You need a consultation with a good spine surgeon. Find one with long experience who is meticulous.

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.

RipScooter
Participant

December 1, 2015 at 9:26 am

Post count: 7

#20910

I got the results from my latest MRI, and they are making feel like I am completely insane. This report basically says there is nothing wrong with my neck. Finding: Alignment is normal. Bone marrow signal is normal. THe spinal cord is normal.There is no significant spinal canal stenosis or disc protrusion. There is no significant nerve root compression, Impession: MRI of the cervical spin within normal limits. How can i have went from loss of cervical lordosis, DDD, spurring, unconverebral and facet joint disease to nothing? I just don’t understand whats going on now. I feel like crying cause I think i am going insane and this is all in my head. I am just so sick of being in so much pain, and now not a clue of what is going on.

RipScooter
Participant

December 5, 2015 at 3:28 am

Post count: 7

#20965

This is from my MRI results on 12-26-2013
Exam: MRI of the cervical spine.
Radographic findings: Vertebral body height appears normal. There is minimal spur formation identified. Disc hydration is reduced, consistent with early degenerative disc disease. There has bee straighten of the normal cervical lordosis. No bone marrow infiltrating process or acute fracture identified. There is minimal facet and uncoverebral joint disease. No frank disc herniation is identified. The spinal cord, craniocervical junction, and paraspinal muscilature are unremarkable. Incidental not is made of minimal mucosal thickening within the maxillary sinuses, consistent with sinus disease and adenoidal hypertrophy.
Impression: Early degenerative arthritic disease of the cervical spine with minimal spurring, facet and unconvertebral joint disease, with early degenerative disc disease and loss of cervical lordosis. There is no frank disc herniation.

Exam: MRI of the Lumbar spine.
Radiographic findings: Verebral body height and alignment appears normal. Small marginal spurs are present throughout the lumbar spine. Disc hydration is milkly reduced, consistent with easrly degenerative disc disease. There is no loss of disc height identified. No bone marrow infiltrating process or acute fracture is indentified. There is subcutaneous edma overlaying the paraspinal musculature of the lumbar spine. There is mild facet joint disease throughout the lumbar spine. No disc herniation is identifies. The Spinal canal and neural formina fail to demonstrate any significant narrowing. The conus medullaries, cauda equina and paraspinal musculature are unremarkable.

Impression: Early degenerative arthritic disease of the lumbar spine, without evidence of frank disc herniation.
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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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