Apple Country Chiropractic Cares for Cervical Disc Herniations and Related Radiculopathy
Apple Country Chiropractic welcomes Williamson neck pain patients with cervical spine disc herniations that trigger arm pain radiculopathy. Non-surgical care of arm pain radiculopathy helps Williamson neck pain and arm pain sufferers find some relief without surgery.
CERVICAL RADICULOPATHY
In setting up a treatment plan for for cervical spine-related arm pain known as cervical radiculopathy, research guidelines state conservative management as a first-line treatment alternative over surgery. Clinically, cervical radiculopathy can pose 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 different stages of pain including acute, subacute, and chronic. (1) Apple Country Chiropractic uses such guidelines in planning non-surgical treatment for our Williamson chiropractic patients.
GUIDELINES FOR TREATING CERVICAL DISC HERNIATIONS
In reporting 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. When studying the care of cervical radiculopathy through its stages, the non-surgical interventions’ guidelines move from acute/more passive care to chronic/more active, individualized, self-managed care. Specifically, for the acute stage, multimodal management including spinal manipulation, patient education, exercise, and positioning that relieves the pain were effective. For subacute cervical radiculopathy, enhanced specific exercises, supervised motor control motions and/or mobilization may be added. In the chronic phase, patients may profit from general aerobic exercise and strength training, postural instruction, and ergonomic assessment of job-related activities, general aerobic exercise and strength training, postural instruction, and ergonomic assessment of job-related activities may be included}29}. (2) We find that our neck and arm pain patients are ready for activities like this that allow them to return 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 – reported motor deficits prior to 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 repeated MRI showed that the disc had resorbed, rendering surgery unnecessary. The researcher conceded that more research was available on lumbar disc herniations’ decreasing as seen on MRI by 34.7% to 95% over 6 to 17 months and total resolution of the disc in 43% to 75% yet contended that cervical disc herniations were apt to act the same way. (4) Like the author, Apple Country Chiropractic holds out hope for our cervical disc herniation and cervical radiculopathy patients that surgery may not be necessary. Our conservative Williamson chiropractic treatment may well help healing.
CONTACT Apple Country Chiropractic
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Umar Ellahie on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he illustrates cervical radiculopathy and its relieving care with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management.
Schedule your Williamson chiropractic appointment today. Cervical radiculopathy and cervical disc herniation sufferers experience a pain-relieving partner at our chiropractic practice.
