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Hello Jennifer
I appreciate the response. I will review the links you provided.
I have had success in the past using dry needling for myofascial pain relief that has arisen intermittently over the years from a herniated disk in 2012. The issue with my neck is not the same and started in July. It
I am awaiting a response from the orthopedist regarding a prescription for PT. I am a college professor and have a colleague in the PT program whose work focuses on cervicogenic issues. He has offered to complete a PT evaluation without a diagnosis. Once I obtain the PT script and when the new semester starts in January I will schedule that evaluation
The orthopedist suggested that the MRI and CT imaging results don't provide an adequate reason for an O-C1 injection and noted that they can be somewhat risky.
Thank you.
Replies to "Hello Jennifer I appreciate the response. I will review the links you provided. I have had..."
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@docb99 Spine issues do cause muscle spasms and when you do dry needling, the action of inserting the needle releases the stored electric charge that is causing the spasm. Fascia also conducts electricity and sometimes releasing it releases some energy. My PT tells me that sometimes she feels zaps in her fingers when working on me.
A similar modality that does not involve needles is a Dolphin Neurostimulator in which a therapist sends a charge between 2 handheld devices. There is a setting to interrupt the neurotransmitters in the pain signals and when my PT did that (before spine surgery), I was able to get pain relief for about a week. She was holding the devices across the nerve roots in my neck.
I had one epidural injection done below C5/C6 as a diagnostic, and the anesthesiologist who did that told me never to allow a doctor to do an epidural above that level because it is too risky. With the nerves that control breathing and heart functions emerging from the spine, a poorly done injection could affect a vital body function. The base of the skull and C1 junction is delicate, and even tipping the head backward in a sink at a beauty salon can cause a stroke or clot to form.
Instability causes one vertebrae to slip past another and essentially, it narrows the spinal canal doing that. If there is already some stenosis in the canal, it can affect that even more. I'm glad you have a PT spine expert, and hopefully that helps or holds off surgery for awhile. It is worth asking for what a spine expert might predict would be the course of the spine disease without intervention, and when an optimal window would be to fix something if that is in your future. You don't want to rush into surgery, but sometimes people wait too long, and then have permanent nerve damage. I tracked my symptoms on a drawing on the body and dated the drawings so I knew how fast it was progressing. That helped me know when the time was right for spinal cord decompression surgery.
I hope you'll stay in touch and let me know how your PT is going.