CERVICAL SPINE

Neck Pain

Babak Khamsi, M.D. offers treatment for cervical spine (neck) pain.

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What Causes Neck Pain?

Most people experience neck pain at some point in their lives. It is a common issue with many causes that can impact health and quality of life, making it crucial to get the right diagnosis and appropriate treatment.

Some symptoms associated with neck pain include:

Stiffness
Radiating pain
Numbness and tingling
Balance issues
Loss of fine motor skills

These symptoms can be mild but become progressively more severe if you do not get the appropriate treatment. The right diagnosis is essential for identifying the best treatment options, so you may need X-rays, blood tests, MRI scans, or other tests to pinpoint the exact problem.

Mechanical and Structural Causes of Neck Pain

The most common cause of neck pain is muscle strain. This occurs when the fibers in the neck muscles stretch farther than they should and tear.

Posture can have an impact on whether you suffer from muscle strain, as can moving your neck incorrectly during exercise or even while you sleep. Overuse of the neck muscles can also be a concern.

Neck injuries can also cause cervical pain. Trauma, such as a fall, car accident or sports injury, can force your neck muscles and ligaments to move outside of their range. In addition to muscle strain, injuries can cause damage to the spinal cord or nerve roots.

Conditions That May Cause Neck Pain

Spinal stenosis can be another cause of neck pain. Spinal stenosis is narrowing of the space available for the spinal cord or nerve roots for various reasons. This narrowing in turn, causes pressure/pinching of the nerves. In most cases this condition is caused by wear and tear over time.

Degenerative disc disease (osteoarthritis) is another condition that can cause neck pain. Discs function as cushions between the bones and as people age, they become dry and wear down. In more advanced cases one of more levels can become “bone on bone” causing pain and discomfort.

Less common causes of neck pain are meningitis, rheumatoid arthritis, and cancer. Although these conditions are fairly rare, they should never be overlooked as possible reasons one may experience neck pain.

Fibromyalgia is another potential culprit of neck pain. Fibromyalgia is a condition in which you experience muscle pain throughout your body, and it often affects the neck and shoulder region.

Degenerative Disc Disease

This condition is a weakening of one or more vertebral discs, which normally act as a cushion between the vertebrae. This condition can develop as a natural part of the aging process, but it may also result from injury to the back.

Myelopathy

This is a problem that affects your spinal cord. It happens when something presses harmfully against it. Your spinal cord is the main nerve pathway between your brain and your body. Pressure on it can cause problems throughout your body.

Cervical Radiculopathy

This condition is an irritation or compression of one or more nerve roots in the cervical spine. Because these nerves travel to the shoulders, arms and hands, an injury in the cervical spine can cause symptoms in these areas. Cervical radiculopathy may result from a variety of problems with the bones and tissues of the cervical spinal column.

Treatments for Conditions That Cause Neck Pain

Dr. Khamsi offers several non-operative and operative treatment options for his patients in Southern California with neck issues. One of the most common surgical options that can help relieve pain is anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) surgery. ACDF is a procedure that removes the herniated or degenerative disc from your neck and using bone grafts fuses the bone above and below the problematic disc.

For people with multi-level stenosis, posterior cervical decompression and fusion (PCDF) is an effective treatment option that makes the decompression of multiple segments in the spine possible. This procedure involves relieving the pressure on the nerves by removing parts of the bone and ligaments in the back of the neck, as well as placing screws in the lateral masses. These screws connect to a rod and offer stability.

Are you experiencing neck pain? Dr. Khamsi can help.

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