Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre Offers Relieving Care for Post-Surgical Neck Pain
Neck pain anytime is not welcome. Neck pain after neck surgery is particularly unwelcome…by the patient and the treating physician! Gentle manual treatment of post-surgical neck pain and any adjacent-to-the-surgical-level-segment spinal pain issues at Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre helps many Toronto neck pain sufferers attain neck pain relief.
DDD
Degenerative disc disease (DDD) - the deterioration of one or more spinal discs – shows itself as low back pain and neck and arm pain. 40% of people over 40 years of age have degenerative disc disease while 80% of those over age 80 have it. 10% to 20% of people with disc degeneration in the lumbar spine and up to 30% of those with disc degeneration in the cervical spine will not respond to non-surgical treatments. (1) Degenerative disc disease is reported to start as early as in the second decade of life. (2) The artificial disc replacement has existed for some time. An early analysis of its use and efficacy stated that about 5% of DDD patients were appropriate for it. Further, the review reported that lumbar artificial disc replacement was 79% superior to lumbar spine fusion with a major complication rate of 0% to 13% per implanted device. The rate of major complications at 2 years post-surgery varied from 0% to 8.1% per implant. Adjacent segment disease was stated to be 2% in one 11-year-follow-up study, but not definitive in the clinical trial data. (1) Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre sees post-surgical neck pain patients with such adjacent segment disease seek our Toronto chiropractic care not uncommonly.
ADJACENT SEGMENT DISEASE AFTER CERVICAL SPINE SURGERY
Spine literature has recently published studies regarding the concern conveyed in the prior study about adjacent segment disease, degenerative changes at spinal segments directly next to a spinal fusion or disc implant area. The cause for such pain is explained as potentially resulting from altered stresses on the neigboring levels after such procedures. In an article geared toward primary care practitioners who see post-surgical patients with spinal pain, one such patient who currently had neck pain and cervical arm pain radiculopathy after a history of having had anterior cervical disectomy and spinal fusion surgery 30 years earlier for DDD. This patient underwent 34 sessions of chiropractic care – a mix of cervical manipulation, flexion distraction decompression, soft-tissue mobilization and therapeutic ultrasound – reported relief. (3) Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre uses flexion distraction decompression procedures to gently treat post-surgical Toronto neck pain.
POST-CERVICAL SPINE SURGERY NECK PAIN
Researchers wrote that cervical spine surgeries for degenerative cervical spine conditions are increasing quickly and leaving in their wake post-surgical pain syndromes: chronic pain, adjacent segment disease, recurrent disc herniation, facet join pain, and/or epidural scarring. Repeat surgeries may be proposed though some patients are unable to or unwilling to undergo another surgery. Such patients may then turn to manual therapy for hoped relief. Because the clinical practice guidelines are composed but not very distinctly for post-cervical spine surgery management, researchers reviewed published papers to establish a path of care. Of 12 articles, 10 studies on conservative care reported favorable clinical outcomes. (4) That is hopeful! Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre shares this hope with our Toronto neck pain patients who have undergone cervical spine surgery for degenerative disease and other issues causing neck pain. Our gentle spinal manipulation approach called Cox® Technic provides relieving, doctor-monitored treatment of your cervical spine.
CONTACT Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Chris Osterlitz on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he discusses how he treated a patient who found relief of his neck pain after a cervical spine surgery using the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management which may include nutritional advice to slow the degenerative disc disease.
Set up your Toronto chiropractic appointment soon. Unwelcomed neck pain due to degenerative disc disease and/or adjacent segment disease after a cervical spine surgery may well find desired relief in your chiropractor’s hands.
