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DESCRIPTION:
Prolotherapy is a great alternative treatment for cervical radiculopathy, as well as lumbar radiculopathy. These conditions start with ligament laxity or weakness. Once a person injures a ligament that supports the spine, the area of the injury becomes unstable. The body likes stability so it starts sending muscle spasms to the area to stabilize. The person takes muscle relaxants to feel better but the area is still unstable, though pain may be less. The unstable area causes increased pressure to develop with movement onto the vertebral facet joints. These then hypertrophy and the degenerative disc/lower back/neck scenario starts. Eventually the increase in the pressure that began in the facets goes to the discs. All of the following can cause radiculopathy, facet hypertrophy, vertebral spondylosis (arthritis), degenerative disc disease, herniated disc, and spinal ligament injury. Prolotherapy by getting at the root cause of the problem has a very high cure rate with cervical and lumbar radiculopathies.
About once every two weeks a patient comes in to Caring Medical worried because he/she believes he/she has a pinched nerve in the neck. Typically an MRI has been done which shows some degenerative arthritis and degenerated discs in the neck and the patient also exhibits tingling in the arm and hand. So is this cervical radiculopathy or is this just a referral ligament pain pattern from the upper thoracic area? How do you tell?
The Eyes
I (Dr. Hauser) look at people's eyes. People who have a true “nerve” being pinched, really cannnot smile. The pain is awful. The referral pain patterns of ligaments can be awful, but not nearly as awful as a nerve being pinched. When the eyes lose their luster and the look on the persons face is “panic,” He think cervical or lumbar radiculopathy. If the person is able to converse with me and laughs at my jokes, then there is a good chance the condition is more a thoracic ligament problem.
The Hub
A person who puts his/her hand between the spine and the scapula and says this is where my pain emanates from, I think thoracic ligament problem. In cervical radiculopathy cases, the person will point to a specific area of the neck causing the pain. Thoracic ligament problems can cause some neck pain, but typically the person will tell you this is a referral pain and the neck pain is minimal compared to the thoracic pain.
Numbiness
Cervical radiculopathy gives ”true” numbness. If a person senses numbness in the fingers but can still feel everything, this is called numbiness. This is a referral symptom typically from thoracic ligament problems (generally thoracic #1-3). Numbness that is true, meaning the person has lost sensation in part of their hand or fingers, indicates a nerve problem. Then one thinks of cervical radiculopathy.
Breathing
Cervical radiculopathy is not affected by breathing and vice versa. Breathing can aggravate thoracic problems and thoracic problems can aggravate breathing. Someone whose symptoms are affected by deep breathing, makes me think thoracic ligament problem.
Arm Movement Aggravation
Believe it or not in my experience, when arm movement aggravates the symptoms, I think more thoracic ligament problem. Simple movements of the arm only occur by stabilization of the scapula. Stabilization of the scapula affects the upper thoracic segments more than it does the cervical spine.
Response to Prolotherapy
Thoracic ligament problems often feel better right away with Prolotherapy. Cervical radicular symptoms generally need a nerve block to feel better right away. Prolotherapy can be used initially in cases of cervical radiculopathy, but we often add a few other things to help the person get out of the severe pain initially. Subsequent treatments with Prolotherapy then allow the body to heal and strengthen the weak ligaments that were likely the cause of the problem in the first place.
For people who have been told that they need surgery for cervical radiculopathy, we would recommend that they get a second opinion from an experienced Prolotherapy physician. You would hate to get surgery and not be better because your problem was a thoracic ligament problem and all you needed was Prolotherapy.
The thoracic ligaments that can refer pain down the arm are those involved with thoracic segments #1, #2, and #3. The ligaments that connect these vertebrae together are the ones that connect these vertebrae to the ribs (costovertebral ligaments). These are successfully treated with Prolotherapy.
If you have been told that you have cervical or lumbar radiculopathy – make a mad dash to an experienced Prolotherapy office! Whether it is a true radiculopathy or not, Prolotherapy can help you!
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