Today I saw a patient in my chiropractic office that has experienced neck pain for quite a while. The patient has been seen before, but has always been too busy to follow through with any chiropractic treatment protocol that I recommended.
As a chiropractor, and friend, I was worried when I began to see the tell tell signs of nerve irritation during my examintion. I found a slight decrease in strength in the patients dominant arm muscles, even though sensations of touch and pressure were unaffected.
I ordered x-rays on this patient, and my fears were confirmed. Even though this patient had not suffered continuous neck pain through the years, the x-rays clearly revealed his problem. There was a significant amount of disc degeneration in lower neck. This was seen as disc space narrowing and the formation of bone spurs.
The spine houses the delicate cord, and allows channels through which delilcate nerves exit the spine and travel to all parts of the body. When wear and tear is present, the potential for serious nerve pinching increases, and the result is neck pain, muscle spasm, arm pain, headaches, and in severe cases, loss of muscle strength.
This patient waited to long. The patient ignored the early warning signs of neck pain and stiffness, rationalizing that the pain was not always present. Now, there is permanent damage in the lower neck joints.
Not all is lost. Chiropractic adjustments, decompression traction, therapy, and exercise are likely to dramatically help. First, by reducing the pain suffered by the patient, and second, by slowing the degenerative process through the restoration of normal joint function. The down side, however, is that the degeneration will gradually increase with time, and at the level present in this patient, it could not be reversed.
The moral of the story is to treat the condition early. Don't wait until the damage is irreversible.
No comments:
Post a Comment