A "REAL" Pain In The Neck"

Tom has being dealing with a pain in his neck ever since July.... And NO, it's not due to me and the girls spending too much money while we were in the States this summer... Ha, Ha... The discomfort in his neck has been off and on over the past few months, but just recently it began to intensify, along with some pain radiating down his arm. So after some serious begging and pleading,by me, he finally scheduled an appointment with the doctor... Hallelujah!!! The doctor put him on Motrin (The AF wonder drug) and Flexerall... Neither of these helped and only made him loopy and even more grumpy (trust me it has been tough around here, even Bandit is hiding!!!) So he went back to the Dr.... Again with our family pleading!!!!... The doctor then put him on Percocet and scheduled him for a MRI... We were all pretty stoked about the Percocet!!! It actually changed the mood significantly in our home! PRAISE GOD FOR PAIN MEDS!!!! Then about 4 days ago he finally had his MRI and yesterday we found out the results. It looks like the "Pain in His Neck" is actually being caused by a "Nerve Root Impingement"... I know, I know, it sounds pretty fancy, but here is a little info to help you out...

Nerve Root Impingement

From top to bottom down the entire length of the spine, at each spinal level nerves exit through holes in the bone of the spine (foramen) on the right side and left side of the spinal column. These nerves are called nerve roots, or radicular nerves. They branch out at each level of the spine and innervate different parts of our body. For example, nerves that exit the cervical spine travel down through the arms, hands and fingers. This is why neck problems that affect a cervical nerve root can cause pain and other symptoms through the arms and hands, and low back problems that affect a lumbar nerve root can radiate through the leg and into the foot (sciatica). The nerve roots are named for the level of the spine at which they exit.

However, nerve roots are not labeled consistently throughout the length of the spine.

• In the cervical spine, the nerve root is named according to the LOWER spinal segment that the nerve root runs between. For example, the nerve at the C5-C6 level is called the C6 nerve root. It is named this way because as it exits the spine the nerve root passes OVER the C6 pedicle (a piece of bone that is part of the spinal segment).

It should be mentioned that two nerves cross each disc level and only one exits the spine (through the foramen) at that level.

• Exiting nerve root. The nerve root that exits the spine at a particular level is referred to as the “exiting” nerve root. Example: The C4 nerve root exits the spine at theC4-C5 level.
• Traversing nerve root. Another nerve root goes across the disc and exits the spine at the next level below. It is called the “traversing” nerve root. Example: The C5 nerve root is the traversing nerve root at the C4-C5 level, and is the exiting nerve root at the C5-T1 level.

A lot of confusion occurs because when a nerve root is compressed by disc herniation or other cause, it is common to refer both to the intervertebral level (where the disc is) and to the nerve root that is affected. Depending on where the disc herniation or protrusion occurs, it may impinge upon either the exiting nerve root or the traversing nerve root. For example: When the traversing nerve root is affected: In the lumbar spine, there is a weak spot in the disc space that lies right in front of the traversing nerve root, so lumbar discs tend to herniate or leak out and impinge on the traversing nerve root. For example, a typical posterolateral (behind the disc and to the side) lumbar disc herniation at the L4-L5 level often affects the nerve that traverses the L4-L5 level and exits at the L5 level, called the L5 nerve root.

When the exiting nerve root is affected: The opposite is true in the neck. In the cervical spine, the disc tends to herniate to the side (laterally), rather than toward the back and the side (posterolaterally). If the disc material herniates to the side, it would likely compress the exiting nerve root. For example, the C6 nerve root would be affected at the C5-C6 level (because in the neck the exiting nerve root is named for the level below it). (This is what we think Tom has from the MRI results)

Over the past few days the pain has subsided a bit... This might be due to the Percocet, but he also still has some discomfort down his right arm and serious numbness in his thumb... This is caused by the nerve being pinched... The girls and I keep telling him he could be cool just like Mr. Deeds, and have a numb thumb instead of a numb foot for the rest of his life... How cool is that!!! I guess He doesn't think it's that cool... So the next step is scheduling an appt with the Neurologist or Neuro-Surgeon to see exactly what's up and where we can go from here... I say "We" because this has had a huge impact on the whole family...

Now it seems, we ALL have A "REAL" PAIN IN THE NECK that we would like to get rid of!!! LOL