Old Mill Chiropractic Cares for Cervical Disc Herniations and Related Radiculopathy
Old Mill Chiropractic treats St Peters neck pain patients with cervical spine disc herniations that cause arm pain radiculopathy. Non-surgical care of arm pain radiculopathy helps St Peters neck pain and arm pain sufferers experience some relief without surgery.
CERVICAL RADICULOPATHY
In setting up a treatment plan for for cervical spine-related arm pain (aka cervical radiculopathy), research guidelines state conservative management as a first-line treatment option over surgery. Clinically, cervical radiculopathy can present as numbness, paresthesia, motor change, reflex change and/or sensory change. Researchers have been working to establish guidelines for its non-surgical management and treatment at various stages of pain including acute, subacute, and chronic. (1) Old Mill Chiropractic considers such guidelines in planning non-surgical treatment for our St Peters chiropractic patients.
GUIDELINES FOR TREATING CERVICAL DISC HERNIATIONS
In presenting the non-surgical guidelines, researchers explained the risk-benefit ratio for surgical treatment of cervical radiculopathy as less promising than for non-surgical, conservative care. In looking at care of cervical radiculopathy through its stages, the non-surgical interventions’ guidelines move from more passive care in the acute phase to more active, individualized, self-managed care in the chronic phase. Particularly, for the acute stage, multimodal management including spinal manipulation, patient education, exercise, and positioning that relieves the pain were helpful. For subacute cervical radiculopathy, enhanced specific exercises, supervised motor control motions and/or mobilization may be incorporated. For chronic pain, general aerobic exercise and strength training, postural instruction, and ergonomic assessment of job-related activities may be incorporated}29}. (2) We understand that our neck and arm pain patients are ready for activities like this that get them back to living.
TIME AND THE CERVICAL DISC HERNIATION
Overall, in one systematic review study, 56.4% of degenerative cervical radiculopathy patients - 39.1% of conservatively treated patients and 60.5% of surgically treated patients – described motor deficits before treatment. (3) A spine surgeon presented a case report of a patient who was ready to undergo cervical spine discectomy/fusion surgery for a C4-C5 disc herniation whose disc resorbed on a confirming repeat MRI, making surgery needless. The researcher conceded that more research was available on lumbar disc herniations’ reducing as seen on MRI by 34.7% to 95% over 6 to 17 months and total resorption of the disc in 43% to 75% yet contended that cervical disc herniations were likely to act the same way. (4) Like the author, Old Mill Chiropractic holds out hope for our cervical disc herniation and cervical radiculopathy patients that surgery may not be required. Our conservative St Peters chiropractic treatment will quite possibly help in relieving the symptoms and pain.
CONTACT Old Mill Chiropractic
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Umar Ellahie on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he describes cervical radiculopathy and its relieving care with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management.
Schedule your St Peters chiropractic appointment soon. Cervical radiculopathy and cervical disc herniation sufferers experience a pain-relieving partner at our chiropractic practice.