Question
Dr. Crowley I am a 38 yr old female currently experiencing loss of feeling in both hands. I do have a cervical fusion. C5-C7  I have a titanium plate and 6 screws. I have degenerative disc disease throughout my spine. Have been told nothing else can be done and that I will end up in a wheelchair. I take 1200 mg of neurotin 3 times a day for permanent nerve damage on the right side of my body. This loss of feeling scares me to death because I know it means my spine is getting worse.

Answer
Hello Tabitha,

I'm sorry to hear about your condition.  There are some things, like the screws and the titanium plate that will probably always compromise you to some degree, but there may be some things that you can do that would help.  

Basically, freeing the soft-tissue in your neck area, shoulder girdle, and down your arms might provide you with substantial relief.  My completely free website Do-It-Yourself-Joint-Pain-Relief.com, shows you how to do this yourself for every joint in your body.  I'd recommend you begin with the Neck Pain Relief page, http://www.do-it-yourself-joint-pain-relief.com/neck-pain-relief.html
and then move on to the Hand Pain Relief page,
http://www.do-it-yourself-joint-pain-relief.com/hand-pain-relief.html

If you free the soft-tissue, so that the nerves are no longer compromised by tight soft-tissue you may get a great deal of relief.
And if you want someone else to do the work for you,
I'd recommend you go to these two websites,
https://memberleap.com/members/directory/search_rolf_FAR.php
and
http://www.rolfguild.org/practitioners/practitioners#practitionersearch2/interna
Call the practioners in your area and go to someone who you feel has the best chance of helping you.
I'd generally recommend someone who has been in practice at least 5 years, preferably 10 years.  And feel free to try more than one person if you don't feel like you've found a good one. Also, some will only want to do a ten session series, but some will also be willing to do 揻ix-it?work and just fix the areas where you are having pain issues. I'm optimistic that this could be of benefit, so at least think about it.

I do hope this helps.  And I do think there is a good chance you can be helped.
All the best,
Gary Crowley