C5 Herniated Disc Evaluation and Management

Here is a cervical radiculopathy evaluation that I did on a lady who developed cervical radiculopathy with left upper trapezius pain and soon after, significant weakness of the deltoids, biceps and supinator. She has decreased C5 and C6 deep tendon reflexes and decreased sensation to the C5 dermatome. She also has pain with a Spurling's test

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#HerniatedDisc#NeckPain#C5

[jerryfaulkner]

wish I would of seen you first, same thing she has but orthopedic said I have complete rotor cuff tear.MRI done! Did the surgery on my shoulder to find out five months later it was pinch nerve in my neck.Good to know real doctors exist!

[OrthoEvalPal]

nothing abnormal except for a severely large herniated disc. She was 100 % better about 3 weeks after surgery.

[OrthoEvalPal]

I encourage doing traction on these folks I have seen hundreds and hundreds of patients very similar to this and we traction them all sometimes three to four times a day for 15 to 20 minutes to offload the mechanical compression and decrease the risk of nerve damage. Good question

[rick]

Exact same here but right side shoulder and bicep extreme weakness.

[OrthoEvalPal]

Cesi can be helpful if the nerve irritation is coming from inflammation. Usually only temporary relief if nerve is being compressed.

[dallascowboys]

Just found at after having an EMG 5 months after my injury that I have a C5 pinched nerve. I have lots of weakness and atrophy to my left arm, although slowly getting better. Doctor who did my EMG said shes gonna recommend surgery. Is it too late to recover 100 percent since its been 5 months?

[scottcarder]

My God our Mighty, have had so many test's and review's of these test's and still waiting for an approval to be going into surgery. my neck is constantly giving me headaches and shoulders arm with carpel tunnel syndrome has shown. So much distress with all these problems though they have promised me an approval date two week's ago I'm worried they are going to try to reject my surgeon's referral and reject that treatment and I'm going to be left with nerve damage also. what am I to do to let them start looking at the proposals from all surgeons including the state regulatory office. had enough of this pain and so not liking to wait neither

[PariyaKadkhoda]

Did she get better? How long did it take and what percentage did she get better?

[mrisen]

Aloha from Hawaii. Are there alternatives to surgery? Can this heal on its own?

[callmecon]

I live in England had mri they found wear and tear on 4 discs two protruding and two herniated ones my pain is at base of my skull been ok but two yrs on its started again so I wearing a collar for a while till I get seen .

[wileymatthews]

If the cervical traction would have provided some relief for this patient, would you have continued with trying to treat conservatively?

[xpingux]

Hey this is a really nice demonstration; as a chiropractic student myself and this being a red flag case, would there be any contraindications to tractioning like you did or is it safe with these symptoms/signs?? thanks!!

[parker]

maybe I'm wrong but I'm most certain that is CN XI you did not C3, 4, which do not innervate the traps or SCM.... in fact im certain 3 and for are very minor nerves to suprascapular.


Help me understand please.

[stephenjohn]

ok sign normal only indicates that the anterior interosseus nerve ( high median nerve) is intact and not C8 as you mentioned. please correct this. another sign of high median nerve injuiry is the Benedictine sign.

[slimchanceoffailing]

I’ve had neck surgery and now I have C 5 palsy. I’m getting mixed answers as far as normal recovery time. My strength seems to be slowly coming back but still very weak. Can you give me any answers as far as typical recovery time and anything that I can do to help the process.

[carriefurr]

I was in a car accident 5-12-16. right shoulder pain & tightening with right upper arm weakness. also right neck pain that shoots into head causing stabbing pains. MRI showed no tears in shoulder but did show beginning tendinitus. neck showed 2 bulging disks. originally low back right pain that radiated into right leg but has since subsided.
Neurosurgeon said in his opinion no surgery needed yet and scan results say bulging disk shouldn't be causing my problems see a neurologist. Chiropractor brought releif from excruciating pain but released from chiro with existing symptoms.
I also have a very sick nasty feeling in my body that I can only describe similiar to a feeling of dehydration but i'm not dehydrated. I have pins & needles with numbness in the legs and feet. Legs have pain. I am a 37 yr old female who was healthy before car accident. I have also had a problem with eyes closing at random. I did have weakness in legs also.

At one point I was put on methyl pred 6 day taper pack for a urinary tract problem and it helped with all listed problems. However when meds were gone symptoms returned. I have been tested for myasthenia gravis b/c my father has it. (Negative). Tested for rheumatoid arthritus (negative). Lupus (negative) CT scan of brain showed a cyst in the right ventrical that they say was there since birth and shouldn't be an issue (negative signs of multiple schlerosis on CT).

1-27-17 I started both meds at the same time: Paxil for anxiety and trazadone for sleep aid I only took the medicines appx. 16days due to having a severe reaction to it, causing legs to become stiff and completely not work to walk, then began walking and legs yo yo'd back and forth walk not walk. (4-15-17 I am able to walk now but tire more easily then before) Then I started having severe muscle spasms. The only thing that keeps them at bay is tizanidine 4mg 2xday everyday. I also have constant small muscle spasms that happen 24hrs a day. This also caused the pins & needles already existing from car accident to intensify. Caused the numbness and leg weakness to intensify. Caused the sick nasty off feeling to intensify. If I don't take tizanidine 4mg 2xday I am a total wreck.

I have had sleeping problems since I was a teenager. 1-2hrs of sleep. 4-6 if I'm lucky. If I win the lottery 8hrs of sleep. No one has investigated why I have sleep problems. All they try to do is give me an antidepressant. I would rather know what is causing the problem and go from there. Why do doctors try to shove a antidepressant at you the moment you say you can't sleep?

EMG done 4-2017 came back normal with a note of central process slow they think due to pain.
If you have any ideas on what I can do please let me know. I am tired of suffering and in need of help. I know I'm not your patient and you can't give me a diagnosis. However would you be willing to offer testing ideas I can ask for?

[abhijeetsingh]

Can c5 compression leads to deltoid atrophy??

[mizarappu]

sir I hve c6c7 operation but I hve shoulder pain agai

[UniqueBlessingCNnetu]

Hello Pls I will like to have a personal conversation with you doc..I have a friend who has spin problem.

[thepyli]

I have to say I have no memory of the information past "chainsaw."