Another one of my painful areas has always been my neck. I’ve had neck pain since I was in my teens. My last x-rays were done in 1998.
My neck pain has been getting worse every year. I have a vertabrae that goes out of place a lot and have to have the doctor put it back in place.
Finally my rheumotologist ordered x-rays again.
Turns out I have a moderate amount of bone spurs all over my cervical spine.
Anyone know of any way to relieve the pain?
I suffer from the same condition and type of pain and here is the basis of my treatment.
Daily home traction on my neck to keep my neck from compressing as much as possible.
Weekly appointments with my physical therapist. He works on the muscle spasms that left untreated can increase the pain and complications as they can cause the spurs to but pressure on the nerve.
Muscle relaxers that are taken on a regular basis daily to try to keep the muscle spasms down as much as possible.
I see a doctor of Sports Medicine at least every 2-3 months to stay on top of what is going on.
I have had to drastically reduce the amount I use my arms. In my case my shoulder and neck muscles do a lot of work to aid my arms. And I am to do NO reaching higher than my shoulders.
Doing my own research I found that taking a double dose of a GOOD quality Calcium and Vitamin B Complex daily has done amazing things. My first MRI after starting the supplements showed that their had been no progression of the spurs at all. My second MRI showed a reduction of the length and thickness of the spurs.
I have lived with this condition for the past 6 years and with the above treatments and the proper pain medication I have been able to at least control the pain enough that I am able to participate, within limits, in my family’s lives.
Hope this helps. Feel free to contact me if you have any question concerning my reply.
God Bless,
Linda
Please tell me more about this:
"Daily home traction on my neck to keep my neck from compressing as much as possible. "
Besides the bone spurs I also have “thinning of the disks”.
How do you do traction at home?
I too have a lot of muscle spasms. I take muscle relaxers and anti-inflamatories every day. I try to work them out with my fingers too. what a pain.