How to Avoid Spinal Neck Surgery

Neck pain is an extremely common occurrence in the US. One may have a car accident with residual pain which could be a result of a whiplash injury. Chronic pain may be a result of arthritis. It could be a simple neck sprain or strain from a sports injury or even a person may just “sleep wrong” and end up with substantial pain.

In a situation where a person has excessive neck pain which is not improving, how can one avoid neck surgery? The first necessary thing to understand is that by and large, undergoing surgery for simply neck pain is a bad idea. Numerous studies have shown that operations for patients with “pain in the neck” do not have great outcomes.

Cervical spine surgery is typically scheduled for individuals with potential spinal instability or neurologic weakness. In addition, there is an indication for surgery when one has spinal cord compression, which is called cervical myelopathy.

If an individual has a neck herniation but no neurologic deficit/weakness, but only pain and/or weakness, then cervical surgery isn’t mandatory. Nonsurgical efforts should be attempted initially.

To avoid surgery, there are numerous options available. For starters, medication may help substantially. This may include acetaminophen, NSAIDS, and short term narcotics for pain relief. On top of this, muscle relaxers may help a lot as a lot of a person’s neck pain can be from muscle spasms. This may include flexeril, valium, or skelaxin.

One medication that may help a lot is gabapentin. It’s unclear why it works exactly, but it may help a lot with nerve type pain.

On top of medication, pain management injections may help a lot. This can include facet injections and potentially an epidural injection if the individual has a pinched nerve. It could be that a series of shots are necessary. or potentially just one.

Treatment with a chiropractor for neck pain plus/minus arm pain may give dramatic relief and make the difference potentially between an operation or avoiding one. This may include manipulations, ice/heat, acupuncture, electrotherapy, or spinal decompression therapy.

Physical therapy can be helpful as well. This can entail stretching, strengthening, and overlap with the chiropractor treatment modalities.

In a situation where a patient has pain from a herniated disc going down the arm, it’s called radiculopathy. As long as there’s no clinical muscle weakness, surgery becomes a quality of life decision rather than mandatory. If the above treatments are tried for over 6 to 8 weeks, then surgery for a cervical herniated disc may be undertaken as a quality of life decision with a high rate of success. But as mentioned, for a situation where a patient has neck pain without instability or a disc herniation, it’s best to avoid surgery with the above treatments.

Want to find out more about the best chiropractors Phoenix, then visit Preferred Pain Center’s site on how to choose the best Phoenix chiropractor for your pain management needs.