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in reply to: neck instability #5150
Instability may or may not be your problem. Tightness, clicking and grinding of the neck could point to facet disease. The facets are joints in the neck similar to joints in the shoulder and knee. When the cartilage wears down irregularly as it does with most people, these unusual noises occur. Tightness could result from degenerative disc disease or from facet disease.
Specks of light in your visual fields would not originate from the neck.
Any good spine surgeon should be able to diagnose you. Either a well qualified ortho or neuro specialist would do. Look for one with some years of experience.
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.in reply to: Back 2 Life Device #5149I have no problem with minor devices to give relief of back pain. My gripe is with the cost of these devices and the advertising as to what they accomplish. Most can give temporary relief while you are on the device but the effects disappear when you become upright again. If your problem is not dangerous and relief is gained from any non-dangerous device, I will be happy with its use. Just don’t pay too much and don’t believe the “wondrous” effects that are touted, especially the testimonials.
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.Let us just deal with the neck. Lower back disorders will generally not cause neck pain but the total “pain load” can make tolerating the neck pain more difficult.
You have severe central neck pain that radiates to the left shoulder. You have numbness of the lateral on half of the ring finger and the entire pinky finger- more on the left but symptoms are bilateral and intermittent.
It is difficult to determine if the numbness of the hands are related to the neck and shoulder pain. The distribution of the numbness of the hands is either from the C8 nerve root from the neck which is a unusual root to be affected or more likely from the ulnar nerve. This is the nerve at the “funny bone”, the inside of the elbow where it can be trapped in an area called the cubital tunnel. If you tap on this area and you feel a “zing” into the affected fingers of your hand, you might have cubital tunnel syndrome.
Neck pain can generally originate from the disc, nerve root or facet. Pain that radiates into the shoulder area is more typically from the nerve root but all previously mentioned structures can cause this.
It sounds like you are currently seeing a spine surgeon. Ask him to evaluate your neck. I’m sure he would be happy to review and examine your neck to determine where this pain is originating.
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.in reply to: Cervical Stenosis #5147I assume that your friend’s father had cervical stenosis and not lumbar stenosis. Both can make walking difficult but cervical stenosis can lead to myelopathy (see website for description of that disorder)- compression and dysfunction of the spinal cord.
When a radiologist uses the term “mild” or “mild to moderate”, compression is in the eye of the beholder. It is difficult to know how much compression is present as every radiologist has a different set of criteria for those terms.
It is important to know if there is at least some cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) around the cord at the level of constriction. CSF is the cushioning around the cord and the more the better.
Two problems to be concerned with in the case of cervical stenosis. One is myelopathy and the other is central cord syndrome (see website for description). Normally myelopathy is a slowly developing problem with warning signs associated and can be carefully watched for occurrence of those signs.
The problem with central cord syndrome is that it occurs immediately in the face of a specific blow to the head. The spinal canal changes in volume with flexion and extension. Flexion widens the canal and extension narrows it. A fall onto the face or forehead that forces the neck to bend backwards can pinch the cord causing this cord injury.
Central cord syndrome is more prevalent in an active population. Activities such as snow skiing or boarding, mountain biking, horseback riding and even wrestling can cause this injury in a person with cervical stenosis. I see about 10-20 central cord syndromes a year in the active population and about 1-2 in the non-active population. You can see that your risk drops substantially if you have cervical stenosis and drop at risk activities.
I agree that an epidural steroid does not fix any mechanical problems and your stenosis is a mechanical problem. If however, you have symptoms from the other problems in your neck (disc tear and bulge or nerve root irritation), the epidural should yield relief.
Will the stenosis become worse? I cannot answer that question. Most patients with stenosis from a disc bulge will have further degeneration in those discs and most likely, advancement of the bulge or spur. This could make the stenosis worse. I have also seen patients who get no worse after following them for 20 years.
Shoulder dysfunction can cause neck pain but the normal pattern is pain that starts in the shoulder and radiates to the neck. I have seen a handful of patients with unilateral neck pain that originated from the shoulder.
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.in reply to: Herniated Disc #5146Naprosyn is a good medication for inflammation. Inflammation is a component any time there is nerve root compression. However, with motor weakness, my personal opinion is that there is severe dysfunction of the nerve root due to mechanical deformation and surgical decompression should be 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.in reply to: L4 L5 S1 after surgery #5144Ask your surgeon if you are a candidate for an oral steriod or an injection of an epidural steroid. Occasionally, use of a steriod reduces swelling around the nerve root and reduces these symptoms.
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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