Neck Pain Support Blog

A Closer Look at Neck Traction

There are a couple of different kinds of neck traction. The first is Linear Traction. This is as if someone pulls your head away from your body while you lying supine or sitting up. This could be done with an over the door neck traction device or something called the trac collar.

The other neck traction is called  "true neck traction".With this neck traction you are stretching the neck but we are also working the "True" c curve into the neck.

How does stretching or tractioning the neck linearly help?

To understand the answer completely we need to cover a little neck anatomy and understand the neck.
Lets start with our bodies control center - our nervous system. This includes the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) and our peripheral nervouse system (all of the additional nerves). Our brain sends information down the spinal cord and out the nerve roots (bundle of nerves) to nerves, to various parts of the body. The nerves roots exit between holes between the spinal vertebrae or vertebral foramen.

Stretching the neck straight apart from the body opens up the foramen. These openings are on each side of the spine. So for example, a pinched nerve on the right side at c5/c6 (describes the foramen between the bones C5 and C6), may cause tingling into the right arm. Similarly, pressure or impingement on the left side will oftn result in left sided symptoms.

Taking the pressure off of the nerves and and opening up the spine allows inflammation to dissapate and pressure to come off nerves. This kind of traction may work extremely well when the neck pain is acute (initial symptoms).

True neck traction tends to work better once acute symptoms have dissipated. Once the initial symptoms dissipate this kind of neck traction not only opens up the foramen but also improves spinal alignment as well. Correcting the neck C Curve will help keep the foramen patent or open.

If you suspect a loss of neck curvature using the posture pump 1000 can improve your curve and keep pain away.  

 

Additional Reading Resources:

• Neck Pain Resulting C5, C6, C7 or C8 Radiculopathy
• Herniated Disc in the Neck
• Choices for Neck Traction: What Devices are Best?
• A Pillow that Gives You Proper Neck Traction and Works well for Pain Relief
• How Help my Neck Pain and Headache From Work?

A Smaller Sized Pillow that Still Offers Neck Support

If you are a petite individual and need a smaller sized pillow that still offers proper neck support, then you do have choices. By petite I mean 5'0 Ft, 5'1' or even 5"2".

So the two choices of pillows would be the arc4life linear gravity pillow in the small size or the petite core orthopedic neck pillow.

Lets look at the main points for ordering one of these two pillows.

First the small size arc4life linear gravity neck pillow :

• dimensions are 23"x17"
• two neck rolls on this pillow: one side is firmer, one side is softer
• you can sleep on your side or on your back
• composed of polyester fiber fill

Second, is the petite core orthopedic neck pillow:

• dimensions are 19"x21"
• there is a trapezoid center and two neck lobes that offer neck support
• this pillow is more firm than the arc4life linear gravity neck pillow mentioned above
• this pillow will last longer because (pillow shelf life is greater)
  

  Petite Core Orthopedic Neck Pillow
• fiber filled

Both of these pillow also work great as travel pillows as well. Great for teens and kids as well. 

Email me if you have more specific questions regarding these two smaller sized pillows.

Additional Reading Resources:

• A Feather Pillow that Offers Foam neck Support
• The Arc4life Linear Gravity Neck Support Pillows
• The TriCore Orthopedic Family of Neck Pillows
• Exercises for the neck: stretching and strengthening
• Can you Help Me With my Cervical MRI?

 

 

 

Dancing with the Stars Derek Hough Having Surgery for Disc Herniation

One of my favorite shows to watch in the last few years has been Dancing with the Stars. One of its main star dancers is Derek Hough. This guys is pretty amazing when he dances. Well recently he revealed that he has been having a lot of neck pain, and he will be having neck surgery for a disc herniation in his neck spine.

The pain in his neck has been so severe that he was not able to dance with his partner Shawn johnson last week.Apparently, he will need surgey to address this disc herniation.

"It's discomfort. The pain will be up and down," he told the magazine. "The bone is just rubbing on the nerve. But you know, I'm not going to do any more damage to it and I'm going to keep going and keep going strong" stated Hough.

Dancing is no easy feat ! Especially at this level of competition. A disc herniation can result in neck pain, weakness in the upper extremity, and numbness and tingling.Range of motion can also be affected. I can only imagine that one needs to be in top physical form with Dancing with stars.

Source: Daily Mail UK Online:'I'm in agony!' Derek Hough needs surgery for neck injury... but will finish Dancing With The Stars first

Additional reading resources:

• The Different Types of Disc Problems That May Cause Neck Pain.
• The traction neck pillow helps with symptoms of disc herniation
• Neck traction devices that help with disc herniation
• No More Neck Pain ! Simple Tips To Keep A Healthy Neck
• More info on disc herniations in the neck

Can You Help Me With My Cervical MRI?

Often times you see your doctor and he or she may review your MRI with you but sometimes they don’t. This of course may leave you very curious. Even if you did understand some of the report or had someone review it with you here are some common things you can possibly see.

An MRI is an ordered most often if your doctor suspects a disc injury. So here’s what you might see:

A normal study or unremarkable- means everything is within normal limits

Spondylosis- this describes degeneration or arthritis

Disc Bulge- the inner part of the disc (nucleus) presses out against the outer disc (annulus)

Disc Protrusion- in other words a disc herniation; this is when the nucleus pushes through the annulus

Stenosis- closure of the spinal canal or neural foramen

Now what does this look like if you have the actual films?

For an MRI they will look at multiple slices of the spine from the side and then a view of slices from the top to bottom. So therefore you can see the spine and discs completely.

On the lateral view of the spine you can visualize the spine and discs (there will be a T1 set of images and a T2 set) this just means that the colors are slightly different. You’ll see the disc in between each vertebrae. Each disc is between the cervical vertebrae C2 and C7 and should stay in those margins. If disc material looks like it is posterior to vertebral margins it’s most likely bulged or protruded out.

Then you can look at the pictures of the spine with cross sections taken so you can see vertebrae and discs from top to bottom. Here you can see if disc material is bulging or herniated out and where it’s happening. A central bulge or herniation is when it comes straight backward. This can often put pressure on nerve roots of both sides which may give bilateral symptoms. A disc may also be more one sided. This would often read as a left or right posterolateral protrusion. Then they will tell you if it actually shows contact with the nerve root. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t.

Either way the discs are dynamic, meaning they can change. Disc injuries can heal or recede. Consult your doctor, surgical intervention is for worst case scenarios.

Additional Reading Resources:

• Cervical Radiculopathy? How Your Doctor will determine the nature of your arm and neck pain
• Arc4life Cervical Traction Neck Pillow for a Disc Herniation
• Neck Traction for a military neck
• How Can I Avoid Restraining my Neck?
• Herniated Disc in the Neck- treatment options