Re: Pain In The Neck For Two Months, Now Arm Half Dead?
As a chiropractor I will throw in my two cents. Many things can cause weakness that affects the extremities. Degenerative arthritis, disc bulges, protrusions or herniations (causing nerve entrapment), and other neurological disorders such as muscular dystrophy (MS) and even tumors can all cause this. The MRI is a great place to start. Also, nerve studies such Electromyography (EMG) / Nerve Conduction Velocity (NCV) tests will also help with the diagnosis. Blood work and other diagnostic labs can also be ordered to rule out conditions. As a chiropractor we order and interpret this information to determine the cause of the problem. Mechanical problems such as degenerative arthritis, disc bulges protrusions or herniations all can be helped with chiropractic care. Typically these disorders are the culprit for the symptoms you describe. Yes, it is true that some patients may not respond to chiropractic care. Like with anything, it cant work 100% of the time for everyone. There are many factors involved such as patient age, lifestyle, and the type of work they do and also the severity of the problem. If you have severe degenerative arthritis in you neck it may be too late for a chiropractor to help. Degenerative arthritis causes bone spurs, discs to bulge and can lead to foramina stenosis (narrowing of the hole in the spine where the nerves exit) and this in turn causes nerve entrapment or compression of the nerve which leads to pain and weakness of the area supplied by the nerve. Many times a patient will see me with the symptoms you describe and say doc my neck dont hurt, why you working on it? Well that is because the problem is in the neck and that is where the nerve is being pinched. A pinched nerve in the neck doesnt necessarily mean you will have neck pain. Of course this is on a patient where we found where the problem is. We do not under any circumstances manipulate an area because we think it may be the problem. We first diagnose the problem and then proceed with treatment. If you have a nerve being pinched there are a few options to consider. Medication will help the inflammation that develops from the nerve being pinched and constantly irritated. The thing is many times when the medication wears off you will have to take more as the nerve is still being pinched. It would be like if I took a rubber band and put it around one of your fingers real tight. You could take pain medication to make your pain go away but when it wears off you still have that rubber band on your finger, which is the cause of the pain. Another option is what chiropractors do, and that is manually manipulating the area taking the pressure off the nerve and restoring function. Another option is to surgically correct the problem, which typically is the approach when conservative measures fail. It never hurts to get second opinions from other doctors such a neurologist or an orthopedist. Dont rely on the information I provided as a diagnosis to your problem. See your doctor and let us know how things go. <br /><br />For those of you that offered support for chiropractic care I appreciate that. Its great to see more and more public and professional acceptance for my profession. The chiropractic profession has come a long way. There was a time when chiropractors were considered to be total quacks and some people still feel that way today. I truly believe it is just a lack of understanding of what chiropractors really do. Like with any profession there are a few bad apples, unfortunately when it comes to chiropractic, those bad apples have always seemed to spoil the bunch.
Thier was some aurthritis involved to some spurs growing into spinal column. any aurther in your family?
