Nerve impingement occurring in cervical area or the neck is known as cervical radiculopathy. Bone spurs, disc herniation, injury and disk degeneration are some of the probable causes of such impingement. Treatment for this condition is usually conservative.

Techniques like physical therapy, immobilization and medicine are used to bring down the pain. For severe conditions, surgery might be suggested to free impinged nerves or to remove bony growth formed on normal bone, broken portions of the disk. Another option is to go for spinal fusion, but that’s less desirable due to immobility in the cervical area.

Cervical radiculopathy is the underlying cause in most of the cases of neck pain that we treat at Sports and Spine Orthopaedics . We have a good team of professionals to provide the treatment of this illness through physical therapy and pain medication as well as expert spinal surgeons capable of performing surgeries if and when needed.

Causes

Anything that puts pressure on the nerves in the neck or spinal cord area can cause cervical radiculopathy. Disk protrusion and resultant pressure on the nerves also known as disc herniation is the most common cause of radiculopathy.

Spinal stenosis resulting from the narrowing of the spinal canal and pressure on the spinal cord is also one of the common causes. Trauma, lacerated nerves or a broken vertebra can also lead to radiculopathy.

Aging is also a very common cause of radiculopathy. With age, the disks lose water and height which in turn leads to nerve compression in the spinal cord area. Moreover, the gradual wear and tear on the joints leads the body to mark the area as weak and form bone tissue along the sides of the vertebra to give added support and support. But on the flip side, the bone spurs impinge on nerves.

Indicators / Symptoms

A sharp pain in the arm on the side that is affected is the most common symptom in this illness. The truth is, you may have neck besides pain and other senses in your arms. Depending on the severity of radiculopathy you may sense pins and needles, tingling, or numbness.

Normal movement of the hands and arm can be affected and you might experience a feeling of weakness in the hand and problems in stretching your arm if one of the motor nerves is impinged. Some people also complain of pain only for specific motions. This generally results from partial impingement of the nerve.

Treatment and Cure

Physical therapy plays a significant role in treating this illness because it helps in making the neck muscles capable of supporting the degenerated discs. Soft immobilization collars can additionally provide rest to the muscles and ligaments of the neck. Medications and injections are also effective and used to reduce the pain.

Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion removes the diseased disk and grafts a bone on the two adjacent vertebrae to bring down pain and movement. The graft is generally chosen from the top of the pelvis, and occasionally pins and screws are used along the anterior part of the cervical spinal column to supply firmness.

The spine is approached from the back and only some parts of the affected disk is removed in posterior cervical laminoforaminotomy. A more modern method is the artificial disc replacement but it would take some time and research to make it more successful and affordable.

Sports and Spine Orthopaedics provides holistic health and well being solutions. We’ve got the specialists to properly identify your condition and recommend the most effective treatments.

Our goal is to use the least invasive procedures first and our team of medical professionals can guide you in choosing the right medications and physical therapy. Get in touch with us today for a consultation.