After undergoing a fusion in the neck, the results for a one or two level procedure are typically great. Success rates are over 90% most individuals are able to get back to performing high level activities. Even professional athletes have undergone a one level fusion and gone back to their chosen profession.

Despite the initial successful results, there is a well-known incidence of adjacent level disease. This includes developing arthritis and the levels next to the initial fusion as the stresses that are normally absorbed by the fuse level are transferred either up or down. To avoid additional surgery, pain management may be necessary such as with pain management Jacksonville FL.

How should the pain from the adjacent levels be treated? Well surgery is definitely a last resort. Adding on the adjacent level of the neck to an initial fusion will entail more risks and dealing with scar tissue if the initial surgery was done from the front and the surgeon is going back in the front. So if at all possible that procedure should be avoided with nonoperative treatment such as with pain management Fort Myers.

There are a couple different potential culprits causing an individual’s pain from adjacent level degeneration. The first is in the disc itself which is the shock absorbing soft tissue between the bones, and the second is in the small joints in the back of the neck called the facet joints. Other than that, there may be pain from some slight instability where one level is moving on the level below it, or the patient may be having persistent muscle spasms.

Initial nonoperative treatment for adjacent level degeneration pain should consist of over-the-counter medications such as Tylenol and anti-inflammatory. Along with this, physical therapy exercises may help a lot along with cervical traction. One very important aspect is to make sure the initial fusion was actually solid and that that is not a problem. This article assumes that the initial fusion was solid and has not broken down, and the hardware has not become loose.

Cervical traction can be done with the older version over the door a couple times a day and it can provide relief, or there are some neck braces that you can sort of pump up and separate the facet joints for a little pain relief a couple times a day as well. Anyway studies have shown that cervical traction works well for alleviating neck pain due to degenerative disc disease for facet arthritis.

One step up from the physical therapy and over-the-counter medications and the traction would be treatment with an interventional Florida pain management doctor.

Pain doctors do not just specialize in administering narcotics. This is a short-term option for a flareup of the pain from adjacent level disease, but the better option is to minimize the use of narcotics and perform interventional procedures.

There are no great options for treating degenerative disc disease with something inside the disc nonoperatively. The better treatments are for facet arthritis pain and these include facet injections, medial branch blocks, and eventually maybe a radiofrequency ablation.

A facet injection is an injection similar to any other joint in the body, and it includes cortisone along with a numbing agent. This may provide pain relief for a few weeks to a few months. A medial branch block involves placing numbing medicine around the tiny little nerve endings that supply sensation to the facet joints. This can provide pain relief for a few months and it can also tell the doctor that is where the pain is coming from if it relieves it.

If that procedure works and then wears off, the next step is to either repeat the medial branch block or to perform a radiofrequency ablation. This procedure is one of the most technologically advanced in pain management and involves burning the tiny little nerve endings that supply sensation to the joint. This can provide pain relief from 1 to 2 years and after wearing off it may be repeated by a doctor of pain management Miami FL.

One of the questions that individuals often ask is whether or not having a radio frequency or an injection procedure will help the pain but make a patient do too much activity because it’s masking the real problem. The answer and most doctors’ opinions is no it will not. The person will develop the normal wear and tear along with being a result of additional stresses seen and you’re not going to be able to reverse it or  significantly protect yourself if you do or do not have the procedure.

Having an additional neck surgery after the first neck surgery may become inevitable if all these nonoperative treatments fail. But they definitely should be tried as every time you have an additional neck surgery there are additional risks along with it.

The Florida Pain Network connects patients in pain with options for pain relievers around the state. Click on “Need a Pain Doctor” and just put in your zip code. The Network options will pop up with the closest Florida Pain Clinics near you.

Or you may simply call (877) 877-8556 Today and we’ll help you.