Question
I am 24 and had acute pain shooting down my neck to my back to my arms while playing golf in April 2006. I have been to a number of doctors from injury specialists, homeopathic as well as physio-therapists (which made it worse) and have found no relief till date. I got my MRI done and found a disc degeneration at C5-C6 & C6-C7 along with some straightening of the neck. It has been over a year and continue to have pain so sharp that I fall to my knees. It gets instigated by small factors such as sudden turn  of my head to looking at cinema screen for too long. I have been athletic all my childhood and feel extremely depressed and irritable due to inability to do things what someone at my age would do. Please do let me know what can be done?

Answer
Without a proper exam I can only give you my opinion.  The disc degeneration is most likely due to the straightening of you neck.  The straightening of you neck is probably due to years of "bad posture" which most people have because of work habits or old injuries that happened long time ago such as a fall or car accident.  My suggestion would be to see a chiropractor.  There are many things that they (we) are able to do to help correct your symptoms.  If you are interested go to www.sorsi.com to locate a doctor near you.  I am in St. Paul, Minnesota and would be happy to see you.  If you have any other questions or concerns please email me.

Dr. Starbuck