A Pinched Cervical Nerve

Lets learn more about pinched cervical nerve here from leading spine surgeon in Chennai. Radiculopathy or a pinched cervical nerve as its also known, occurs when there is compression or something irritating the nerves in the neck and is a common cause for back pain. This condition is often a result of an injury such as whiplash from a car accident or a fall, but it can also be caused by the degeneration of other parts of your spine as you get older. In the older population it is often a result of osteoarthritis, while in the younger population it is often causes by injury or a herniated disc. Since you use your neck every day, even when you sleep when you have a pinched nerve it can greatly affect your day-to-day life.

Listed below are some of the more common conditions that can lead to pinched nerves.

Causes of Cervical Radiculopathy

Herniated Discs

This occurs when the tough outer shell of our inter-vertebral discs ruptures or tears. When this happens, the gel like center of the disc (helps to cushion the spine) pushes out and into the spinal canal. Since there is only a limited amount of space in the spinal canal it is very easy for the surrounding nerves to become pinched.

Bone spurs

These boney growths (also known as osteophytes) can be caused by many back conditions, all of which are known contributors to pinched nerves. These bony growths form as a result of friction, pressure, or stress to bones in the spine over a long period of time. The longer this process is allowed to go on, the larger your bone spur would become, increasing the risk of nerve compression.

Injury

An injury to the neck due to an accident or injury can damage the neck in many ways; many times it can be linked to whiplash as a result of a car accident or sudden force applied to the cervical spine.

Cervical Spondylosis

This is the degeneration of the disks and vertebrae in your spine that occurs as we get older. Another name for this is cervical osteoarthritis and is seen in those who are age 40 and older.

Cervical Degenerative Disease

As we get older the bones and vertebrae that make up the spine start to deteriorate at a faster rate. To an extent, everybody suffers from this degeneration, but in some this damage is much more pronounced and may go on to cause other problems such as bone spurs or a narrowing of the spinal spaces. These irregularities in the back can go on to compress or pinch your nerves as they branch out into the body. Thankfully only a small amount of people with spinal degeneration go on to experience any symptoms.

Cervical Stenosis

This is a narrowing of the spaces in the neck and upper parts of the spine and is most often seen in those who are over the age of 50. There are exemptions to the rule including those who are born with naturally small spinal canals. As the space in your spine becomes smaller there is an increase in pressure on the nerves.

Sciatica Exercises: An Effective Remedy For Spine Trouble

Sciatica refers to the pain caused by the compression or irritation in the nerves at the lower end of the spine. Sciatica is also known as radiculopathy, which refers to the extension of the spinal disc beyond the normal position, resulting in the pressure on the sciatic nerve. Such a condition can often result in pain in the back and legs. 

The best remedy for the treatment of this kind of pain is sciatica exercises explained by one of the top rated neurosurgeon in Chennai. It is often believed that bed rest helps in such a condition. However, inactivity usually worsens the pain in sciatica patients. Lack of movement weakens the back muscles and the spinal structures, thus resulting in increased pressure on the back and consequently more pain. Sciatica exercises are very important for health and fitness of the human back and spine.

Sciatica exercises focus on strengthening the abdominal and back muscles. These exercises include stretching, which helps in improving the flexibility of the back muscles, resulting in reduced pain. Doctors recommend different exercises for sciatica patients, depending on the cause of sciatica, which can also occur due to serious medical conditions such as an infection or tumor. One has to do these exercises regularly and in a proper manner in order to derive maximum benefit.

Exercising regularly not only helps in the treatment of sciatica-related pain, but also helps in the prevention of any such problems in the future. The most common sciatica exercises that are recommended for the treatment of sciatica-related pain are the Hamstring stretching exercises. 

The hamstrings are the muscles located in the back of the thigh and help in bending the knee. You must also perform exercises to strengthen the abdominal muscles in order to get relief from the sciatica pain.

Treatments For Spine Related Problems in Chennai

Thousands of people in the world today suffer from spine or pains; conditions that are related to the spine. Spine surgery is the treatment for this condition by best spine surgeon in Chennai. It can either be an open procedure or a minimally invasive procedure. The two methods have their advantages and disadvantages but the minimally invasive is more preferred.

Open spine surgery involves the cutting open of the body to expose the infected areas for appropriate procedure to take effect. This has a number of disadvantages one of which includes collateral damage of the healthy tissues. Moreover, this procedure has been known to weaken the spine especially where immobility of the vertebral have to be done and holes are made. The procedure is also more expensive and requires the use of more anesthesia, more operating time as well as longer hospitalization.

In addition to the entire procedure being more painful than the laser spine treatment, patients take weeks or even months to gain complete recovery. This is due to extensive bleeding which is experienced during the procedure as well as the healing of the wounds. Some patients have also claimed to experience fatal after effects weeks or years after the surgery. This has made the spinal fusion very unpopular and people are opting for the laser spine treatment.

In the laser spine treatment, lasers are used in the separation or elimination of tissues. There is no use of the scalpel, the cutting is done via the evaporation of cells with more water content. This procedure is quite non invasive and very safe. The time required to the completion of the entire procedure is less. What more is that it reduces the number of risks since the technology used in this procedure is more accurate and unlike human hands, risks of cutting unnecessary organs or tissues is reduced.

Patients who opt for the laser spine treatment experience quick recovery. This is because unlike other procedures, there is less cutting which means that less damage done. Patients take at most five days to achieve complete recovery which means they can go on with their daily work within a week. Scars are minimal and future after effects are experienced. This makes laser spine treatment the most promising spine treatment which is not only safe but also saves on hospital bills. It is 1/3 to ½ less expensive than other spinal treatments. This is because it is fast, effective and less time is spent on hospital beds and using medications.

Another major advantage of the laser spine treatment is that there is less pain experienced. This makes it ideal for people who are scared of pain. The procedure, being precise, it involves less bleeding. This is because the procedure requires less skin opening and includes no spine drilling. This means that chances of future complication or spine weakening are minimal. Vaporization is the main principal of the surgery other than manually removing them. This is what makes the procedure much less expensive and takes less time for complete recovery.

The laser spine treatment has been very successful in the treatment of many spine related problems. This include herniated discs, bulging discs, foramina stenosis, spinal stenosis, spinal arthritis, bone spurs, sciatica and many spine related problems. In spite of many doctors not yet being able to conduct the laser spine treatment, most that have gone through this procedure have had no regrets.