Severe Cervical Pain - Medial Branch Block not effective

@ashby1947 Hello and thank you for your post. I am a spine surgery patient and had surgery at Mayo for spinal cord compression at C5/C6. I didn't have foraminal stenosis, but I did experience some nerve compression at the nerve roots if I side bent because the disc had collapsed about 50% leaving much less room for the nerves to exit and that produced stabbing pains. Living with constant pain from that would be tough. One thing that also happens with spine issues is muscle spasms in the neck that can move the vertebrae and twist or tilt them and moving the bones around a compressed foramen can increase pain. Have you thought of trying physical therapy? PT along with myofascial release helped me a lot prior to my spine surgery and realigned everything properly until the next spasm moved things again.

Here is our MFR discussion and there are a lot of links to information in the first pages.
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/myofascial-release-therapy-mfr-for-treating-compression-and-pain/

Have you considered surgery to clean out the foramen? Bone growth remodeling of the spine also happens from uneven pressure so keeping the spine aligned as best you can helps. Myofascial release is a very gentle stretching of the muscle and tight fascia that keeps things bound up, and it helps to restore normal movement and alignment again.

Have you been evaluated by a physical therapist? What do you think about trying myofascial release?

Hi Jennifer - Thank you for your response and link to MFR. Yes, I have been working with a PT (I used to be a PT many years ago) receiving MFR and manual therapy for a couple of months. It helps for awhile. Yesterday I adjusted my THC:CBD ratio and got a bit of relief - for which I was grateful! I am hopeful that I will continue to build upon the relief I have gotten and finally get my muscles to relax and start to heal. Thank you again! Sue

@ashby1947 Sue, that's wonderful that you were a PT, so you probably know how to lay down to put your neck on slack and feel the spineous processes to see if they are aligned. The thing about MFR is there are layers of fascia that you work through like peeling an onion and that can take some time, but if you stick with it and keep doing home stretching to maintain it, you will make better progress. I have been doing MFR for several years mostly because of thoracic outlet syndrome, and my spine issue cropped up sending me to surgery and recovery.

Magnesium helps muscles to relax and most of us are deficient and it is needed for detoxing the body. Soaking in an epsom salt bath will help you absorb it through your skin. This weekend my physical therapist is at a workshop taking classes with John Barns, the originator of MFR and his gentle methods of stretching. The idea is to create a shearing force and go to the barrier and wait until it releases. With too much pressure, the fascia can tear and create scar tissue that just makes it worse.

At some point, PT may not help if there is enough bone growth pressing on the nerves and it becomes a choice of treating pain or fixing a structural problem of nerve compression. My PT bought me some time before spine surgery which was good because at that time (before coming to Mayo), I could not find a surgeon willing to help me and spent 2 years seeing various local surgeons. If you don't have disc issues, clearing up foraminal stenosis would be a lesser surgery and might even be able to be minimally invasive. Is surgery an option for you?