Question
I had a traumatic fall 10 months ago. I broke my left arm and was bruised all over. Since that time my right arm has felt weak, but no pain so I never went to the doctor about it. I thought I had made a complete recovery. About one month ago my right arm stopped working. Lots of pain in my shoulder and upper arm. I can't raise my arm over my head at all. Went to the orthopedic doctor and he did an MRI. Says I have a C5 herniated disk. Is sending me to a nuerosurgeon. Can this be caused by the fall 10 months ago?

Answer
Annette,
NO, Do NOT go to the neurosurgeon for this.  There is a 99% chance that you do not need surgery.  I see way too many people after surgery that they didn't need coming to us and looking for answers.  At that point we are very limited in what we can do and the outcome is usually mediocre at best.  
This is what really gets me ticked off! These Doctors have no clue what is going on and their solution is to go right to the drastic measures of a surgery because they have no solution.  It really shows you how limited they actually are.  This is the year 2008, and MD's should refer to DC's but they do not, they keep the patient in their circle of "friends" and the patient is the one that suffers, it is baloney.
We see patients with herniated discs all of the time and they do not require surgery 99 out of 100 times.
What you are to do is send me your town and state and I will refer you to a Doctor that can help you to get well without harmful surgery.
You can tell your orthopedic doctor I said shame on you and better yet why don't you give him my phone number and e-mail so that he can talk with me about it (314.995.5719 [email protected]). I would love to "enlighten" him as to what has been helping people to get well for the past hundred years or so without harmful drugs or surgery.
I am sorry to vent in your general direction, but this is the kind of situation that really pisses me off.
I want you to know that by contacting me, the rest of your LIFE is now going to be changed for the better and you should be glad that you took the time to ask a simple question.  Nothing is bigger than LIFE.
Yours in Best Health,
Dr Rob Arnone
By the way, your fall certainly could have accelerated a problem that was most likely there in the first place.  We see people come in and always can relate a trauma to their poor health, it is just that the trauma  usually occured years before the problem or years before the patient presented to our office.  So ,Yes your trauma certainly had something to do with this.