Neck pain can sometimes be so severe it’s difficult to move your head. Whether your neck pain is this bad or you have a less disabling condition, fellowship-trained interventional spine specialist Nikhil Verma, MD, of Essential Sports and Spine Solutions, can help.
Dr. Verma uses conservative approaches with additional advanced techniques like spinal cord stimulation for the most persistent pain. To benefit from cutting-edge approaches to resolving neck pain, call the Essential Sports and Spine Solutions office in Columbus or Marion, Ohio, or request an appointment online today.
Neck Pain FAQs
Chronic neck pain is frequently due to excessive stress, degenerative conditions, or injuries. Stress often plays a significant role in neck pain because chronically tense muscles get tired and sore. Eventually, stress can end up damaging soft tissues and nerves in your spine.
Normal wear-and-tear and the aging process are responsible for many causes of chronic neck pain, including:
- Cervical stenosis
- Herniated cervical discs
- Osteoarthritis
- Cervical degenerative disc disease
- Vertebral compression fractures
Overwork and poor neck posture are common causes of inflammation and pain, while acute damage from auto or work accidents, falls, and sports injuries can stretch or tear connective tissues. Whiplash, a frequent cause of neck pain after rear-end collisions, involves the stretching and tearing of the muscles and tendons in your neck.
At Essential Sports and Spine Solutions, Dr. Verma can show you how to release muscle tension and stress in your neck through exercise and recommends physical therapy or chiropractic care to strengthen, stretch, and stabilize your neck. Activity modification and the use of anti-inflammatory medication can also help relieve neck pain.
If you continue to experience neck pain after your initial treatment period, Dr. Verma can use trigger point injections and orthobiologic treatments like PRP.
You might need to undergo further diagnostic tests, such as a cervical medial branch block, where Dr. Verma injects a local anesthetic into your spine. A medial branch block helps isolate the source of your neck pain and relieves it for a short time.
Dr. Verma also offers a range of advanced options for the most persistent cases of neck pain.
If your neck pain isn’t responding to less invasive therapies, you might benefit from:
Cervical epidural steroid injections
Epidural steroid injections in the cervical spine relieve pain in your neck, shoulders, and arms that develops when you have a pinched nerve. The medication in the injection consists of a powerful anti-inflammatory such as cortisone and a local anesthetic that helps reduce tissue inflammation and swelling.
Cervical facet injection
Facet joints are the small links between each vertebra in your spine. Like other joints, they can suffer from arthritis and other degenerative changes that cause inflammation. Cervical facet injections contain a local anesthetic, which numbs the pain temporarily, and a long-acting steroid to reduce inflammation.
Cervical radiofrequency ablation
In this minimally invasive procedure, Dr. Verma uses heat from radiofrequency energy to target the nerves sending pain signals from your neck to your brain.
Implantable devices
A spinal cord stimulator implant might be necessary to reduce your neck pain.
Dr. Verma is an expert in alleviating all degrees of chronic neck pain using effective pain management methods. To benefit from his expertise, call Essential Sports and Spine Solutions or request an appointment online today.