Ways to Avoid Surgery of Your Neck?

Neck pain is one of the most common musculoskeletal complaints in the US. It may result from a car accident which can be associated with whiplash. The chronic neck pain may be coming from arthritis. A neck sprain or strain may result from a sports injury, or maybe someone just slept wrong and woke 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 a person has a neck disk herniation without neurologic weakness, but solely numbness and/or pain, then neck surgery is not absolutely necessary. Nonoperative treatment should be tried 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.

Gabapentin is one medication that may help substantially. It’s not exactly known why it works, but it can help dramatically with nerve generated pain.

Moving on from medication, injections from a pain doctor may help substantially. This may include facet injections and maybe an epidural injection if the person is dealing with a pinched nerve. A series of injections may be needed, or one may do the trick.

Chiropractic therapy for neck pain with or without radiculopathy may benefit patients substantially and can make the difference in being able to avoid surgery. These treatments may include acupuncture, spinal decompression therapy, electrotherapy, ice/heat, and spinal manipulaitons.

Physical therapy may help as well. This may include strengthening, stretching, and will overlap with the chiropractic modalities.

In a situation where a person has pain from a pinched nerve going down the arm, it’s called radiculopathy. As long as there’s no muscle weakness, surgery becomes a quality of life decision instead of something that has to be done. If the above therapies are tried for over six to eight weeks, then an operation for a pinched nerve in the neck may be undertaken as a quality of life decision with a high success rate. But as mentioned, it’s best to avoid surgery with the above treatments in a situation where a patient has neck pain without instability or a disc herniation.

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.

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