Cervical radiculopathy is a condition where the nerves coming from the cervical spine becomes pinched. The two most common causes of this are a bulging disc of the cerivcal spine and cervical spine degeneration (aka cervical spondylosis).
A 29 year old woman consulted me for 6 months of chronic left arm/neck pain which was due to protruding disc at C4/5 causing nerve impingement. The pain would feel like a deep dull ache running from her neck all the way down her arm. It was always present and worse with neck rotation. She was not keen to try a CT guided steroid injection at this stage. Pain medications only offered temporary relief so she put up with the pain. She is a single mother and is unable to play with her children due to her pain.
At this stage, she had not been taught any exercises for the neck. I gave her the appropriate referral to an exercise physiologist (who is a physiotherapist but for chronic conditions). I also offered her a treatment of laser acupuncture to help reduce the pain.
Only a single point was used with the laser acupuncture – a point representing the cervical spine on the left ear. She noticed the pain improve immediately. The week after at the next consultation, she told me her pain of 6 months was COMPLETELY GONE. I expected some reduction but complete absence of pain after one treatment is rare. She was able to live her life fully and play with her children again. She could now sleep without waking up in pain.
This is a remarkable result. I advised her to still see the exercise physiologist and to do the exercises everyday as prescribed. Acupuncture reduces the inflammation which helps with the pain but strengthening exercise supports the neck musculature so the inflammation either stays away or is minimised. She is NOT cured. There is ‘no cure’ for spinal disc prolapse except for surgery. Hopefully she will never have to go down that path.
