Wellness 4 Life

Does a Cervical Pillow Relieve Bulging Disc and Radiculopathy Pain?

The short answer is YES, and studies have been done on this that show that using a cervical neck collar for a cervical radiculopathy is better than doing nothing. 

For beginners, What is a Cervical radiculopathy? This occurs when nerves roots in the neck that exit out of the vertebrae (bones) are compressed. This negatively affects nerve function.  Damage to nerve roots in the cervical area, can cause symptoms such as neck pain, weakness, numbness and tingling into the arms and the hands, and shooting pains.

 

Often times your orthopedic doctor may recommend a course of physical therapy. This usually involves neck traction, moist heat packs, stretching and e-stim for the muscle pain. They will also recommend medications for pain and inflammation.

But what can you do at home? For starters, some type of neck traction can help. Also,wearing a cervical collar has shown to be beneficial for patients with a cervical radiculopathy.

Back in 2009, A Dutch study concluded that using a semi-hard cervical collar and doing rest for 3-6 weeks or physical therapy along with home exercises for 6 weeks decreased neck and arm pain substantially compared with a “wait and see” policy in the early phase of a cervical radiculopathy condition. In this study, a randomized controlled trial of 205 patients with symptoms and signs of cervical radiculopathy of less than 1 month's duration were evaluated.

They found that the subject’s neck pain did not decrease significantly in the first 6 weeks, whereas the cervical collar and rest resulted in a 17-mm reduction on the visual analogue scale and physical therapy resulted in a decrease of 14 mm. The neck disability index showed a significant change with the use of the collar and rest and a nonsignificant effect with physiotherapy and home exercises, compared with a wait-and-see policy.

For night time, using a traction pillow will help ease the pain, and put you into a comfortable position for sleeping. Using a pillow such as this with contours and a neck roll can help relieve pain from a bulging disc or pain that results from a radiculopathy. 

Source: Cervical collar or physiotherapy versus wait and see policy for recent onset cervical radiculopathy: randomised trial

Additional Reading:

• Neck Pain That Comes from a C3, C4, C5, C6, and C7 radiculopathy
• Having a pinched nerve in the neck can be the cause of a lot of pain
• Exercises for the Neck that work
• Therapeutic Benefits for the arc4life pillow and how it helps with different types of neck pain
• Treatment for muscle pain in the neck
• Philadelphia Neck Collars

 

Is Inflammation The Root Cause Of My Pain?

We often think, "there's a bone hitting a nerve". This isn't really ever the case; it's actually inflammation that's putting pressure on a nerve or nerves.

So is inflammation the root pain cause? It is because that is what's pressurizing the nerve. But don't forget to ask: "why is inflammation building up there?" When we lose motion, inflammation builds up. How did we lose motion? We are talking about joint motion, by the way.o

So how are we losing motion? Typically if a spinal bone, in other words, a joint, gets shifted out of place, we lose motion there. So we have spinal bone shifted, therefore a disc that's also then moved. Put inflammation in the mix and we then have nerve pressure.

 

Additioanal Reading Resources:

1. Questions about Your Pillow?

2. Neck Pillow Reviews

3. Natural Remedies for Neck Pain and Inflammation

Can Pain Injections Help?...

  Yes, this my be a viable way to get some relief.  Typically you will want to Try medication, therapy, chiropractic care, even acupuncture 1st.  Is severe pain still present?

 

Your doctor may send you to an orthopedic or neurological consult.  Surgery isn't usually what your PCP is thinking here.  The doctors he's referring you to most likely perform a lot of pain injections.  Now, don't get me wrong, if there is evidence possibly saying "surgical consult", then that's what you'll go for.

 

However, in many cases pain injections in the form of epidural, steroids, and the like, may help you to get out of pain, and get back to normal.

 

Additional Reading:

The Natural Alignment Pillow

Your Pillow & Your Health

What Is The Cause of My Neck Pain?

 

"I Have Arm And Hand Pain?"

I have arm and and hand pain but can't tell if it's stemming from my neck or coming from the arm?

 

This is a common dilemma.  First, look to when it started and the cause.  If you had an injury to the arm or hand, the pain is probably coming from the arm.  Now, if you wake up in the morning with your neck in pain unless yo tilt to the right side, then pain is most likely coming from the neck.

 

Using something like the Cervical Linear Traction Neck Pillow can help the neck pain and hand and arm pain by correcting the neck alignment.

Can The Warmer Weather Help My Pain?

Many times the warmer weather is easier on the back.  Not just the fact there is no shoveling, and you don't have to constantly watch your step because of ice, but there's a couple of other reasons too.

 When there is bad weather, it's almost like gravity pushes down on us slightly more.  It's only a fraction but sometimes it's enough to affect an arthritic area or an already injured disc.  A storm can be during the summer too however. 

The Weather Forecast in Miami on one December Week....Talk about Warm Weather :)

 But just the really cold weather tends to tighten our muscles slightly.  Tight muscles can also mean pain and spasm.  You want to try to be loose so you're muscles are ready to move. It's similar to a warm-up before exercise!

Addtional Reading:

• Did Watching Fargo, Make You Feel Cold?
• How to deal with arthritis and be comfortable
• A Stretch for the piriformis muscle
• I have the Hunch Back Posture 
• Get the Right Device to Stretch Your Neck

 

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The Piriformis Stretch For Back Pain Relief...

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