Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn Offers Relieving Care for Post-Surgical Neck Pain
Neck pain anytime isn’t 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 conditions at Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn helps many Ashburn and Herndon neck pain sufferers get neck pain relief.
DDD
Degenerative disc disease (DDD) - the wear and tear of one or more spinal discs – shows itself as low back pain and neck and arm pain. 40% of people over 40 years old have degenerative disc disease while 80% of those over age 80 have it. 10% to 20% of people with lumbar disc degeneration and up to 30% of those with disc degeneration in the cervical spine will not get relief from 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 been around for some time. An early review 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 conclusive in the clinical trial data. (1) Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn sees post-surgical neck pain patients experiencing such adjacent segment disease seek our Ashburn and Herndon chiropractic care not uncommonly.
ADJACENT SEGMENT DISEASE AFTER CERVICAL SPINE SURGERY
Spine literature has recently addressed the concern conveyed in the study above 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 described as potentially resulting from altered stresses on the adjacent levels after such procedures. In an article written for an audience of primary care practitioners who care for post-surgical patients with spinal pain, one such patient who presently had neck pain and cervical arm pain radiculopathy with 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 – stated that they had relief. (3) Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn uses flexion distraction decompression procedures to gently treat post-surgical Ashburn and Herndon neck pain.
POST-CERVICAL SPINE SURGERY NECK PAIN
Researchers wrote that cervical spine surgeries for degenerative cervical spine conditions are increasing swiftly and creating post-surgical pain syndromes: chronic pain, adjacent segment disease, recurrent disc herniation, facet join pain, and/or epidural scarring. Repeat surgeries may be recommended though some patients are unable to or do not want to go through another surgery. Such patients may then turn to manual therapy for hoped relief. Due to the fact that the clinical practice guidelines are written but not very distinctly for post-cervical spine surgery management, researchers analyzed published papers to establish a path of care. Of 12 articles, 10 studies on conservative care reported favorable clinical outcomes. (4) That is hopeful! Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn imparts this hope with our Ashburn and Herndon 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 allows relieving, doctor-monitored treatment of your cervical spine.
CONTACT Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Chris Osterlitz on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he describes how he helped a patient find relief of his neck pain after a cervical spine surgery following the Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management which may include nutritional advice to slow the degenerative disc disease.
Schedule your Ashburn and Herndon chiropractic appointment soon. Unwelcomed neck pain as a result of degenerative disc disease and/or adjacent segment disease after a cervical spine surgery may well find desired relief in your chiropractor’s hands.
