Dr. Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC Cares for Cervical Disc Herniations and Related Radiculopathy
Dr. Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC takes care of La Grande neck pain patients with cervical spine disc herniations that cause arm pain radiculopathy. Non-surgical care of arm pain radiculopathy helps La Grande neck pain and arm pain sufferers experience some relief without surgery.
CERVICAL RADICULOPATHY
In managing for cervical spine-related arm pain (aka cervical radiculopathy), research guidelines report conservative management as a first-line treatment option over surgery. Clinically, cervical radiculopathy can appear as numbness, paresthesia, motor change, reflex change and/or sensory change. Researchers have been working to set guidelines for its non-surgical management and treatment at various stages of pain including acute, subacute, and chronic. (1) Dr. Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC uses such guidelines in planning non-surgical treatment for our La Grande chiropractic patients.
GUIDELINES FOR TREATING CERVICAL DISC HERNIATIONS
In writing the non-surgical guidelines, researchers explained the risk-benefit ratio for surgical treatment of cervical radiculopathy as less favorable than for non-surgical, conservative care. When studying the care of cervical radiculopathy through its stages, the non-surgical interventions’ guidelines shift from more passive care in the acute phase to more active, individualized, self-managed care in the chronic phase. Specifically, for the acute stage, multimodal management including spinal manipulation, patient education, exercise, and positioning that relieves the pain were valuable. For subacute cervical radiculopathy, enhanced specific exercises, supervised motor control motions and/or mobilization may be added. In the chronic phase, patients may profit from general aerobic exercise and strength training, postural instruction, and ergonomic assessment of job-related activities, general aerobic exercise and strength training, postural instruction, and ergonomic assessment of job-related activities may be included}29}. (2) We find that our neck and arm pain patients appreciate activities like this that allow them to return to living.
TIME AND THE CERVICAL DISC HERNIATION
Overall, in one systematic review study, 56.4% of degenerative cervical radiculopathy patients - 39.1% of conservatively treated patients and 60.5% of surgically treated patients – recorded motor deficits before treatment. (3) A spine surgeon presented a case report of a patient who was ready to undergo cervical spine discectomy/fusion surgery for a C4-C5 disc herniation whose disc resorbed on a confirming repeat MRI, making surgery unnecessary. The researcher acknowledged that more research was available on the decrease of lumbar disc herniations seen on MRI by 34.7% to 95% over 6 to 17 months and total resolution of the disc in 43% to 75% yet contended that cervical disc herniations were apt to act the same way. (4) Like the author, Dr. Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC holds out hope for our cervical disc herniation and cervical radiculopathy patients that surgery may not be necessary. Our conservative La Grande chiropractic treatment may well help in relieving the symptoms and pain.
CONTACT Dr. Paulette Hugulet, DC, LLC
Listen to this PODCAST with Dr. Umar Ellahie on The Back Doctors Podcast with Dr. Michael Johnson as he describes cervical radiculopathy and its relieving care with The Cox® Technic System of Spinal Pain Management.
Schedule your La Grande chiropractic appointment now. Cervical radiculopathy and cervical disc herniation sufferers find a pain-relieving partner at our office.
