OrthoIllinois Chiropractic Cares for Cervical Disc Herniations and Related Radiculopathy
OrthoIllinois Chiropractic welcomes McHenry neck pain patients due to cervical spine disc herniations that cause arm pain radiculopathy. Non-surgical care of arm pain radiculopathy eases McHenry neck pain and arm pain non-surgically.
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 alternative over surgery. Clinically, cervical radiculopathy can appear as numbness, paresthesia, motor change, reflex change and/or sensory change. Researchers have been working to set guidelines for its non-surgical management and treatment at different stages of pain including acute, subacute, and chronic. (1) OrthoIllinois Chiropractic uses such guidelines in planning non-surgical treatment for our McHenry chiropractic patients.
GUIDELINES FOR TREATING CERVICAL DISC HERNIATIONS
In writing the non-surgical guidelines, researchers explained the risk-benefit ratio for surgical treatment of cervical radiculopathy as less beneficial than for non-surgical, conservative care. In looking at care of cervical radiculopathy through its stages, the non-surgical interventions’ guidelines shift from more passive care in the acute phase to chronic/more active, individualized, self-managed care. Specifically, for the acute stage, multimodal management involving spinal manipulation, patient education, exercise, and positioning that relieves the pain were valuable. 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 know that our neck and arm pain patients appreciate activities like this that allow them to return to living.
TIME AND THE CERVICAL DISC HERNIATION
Overall, in a recent systematic review study, 56.4% of degenerative cervical radiculopathy patients - 39.1% of conservatively treated patients and 60.5% of surgically treated patients – experienced motor deficits before treatment. (3) A spine surgeon described 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, rendering surgery needless. The researcher acknowledged that more research was available on the reduction of lumbar disc herniations 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 do the same. (4) Like the author, OrthoIllinois Chiropractic holds out hope for our cervical disc herniation and cervical radiculopathy patients that surgery may not be required. Our conservative McHenry chiropractic treatment will quite possibly help healing.
CONTACT OrthoIllinois 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 McHenry chiropractic appointment today. Cervical radiculopathy and cervical disc herniation sufferers experience a pain-relieving partner at our clinic.
