Question
Hello again. I wrote Sunday about aggravating a neck injury from 1997. I saw a spine specialist on Tuesday, and he's shed new light on my situation. I just wanted to see what you think. On the plus side, he said the MRI shows no nerve damage so surgery is not necessary. But he says I have a degenerative spine , which includes thinning discs and some athritis, so he's suggesting that I go to some pain management specialists to discuss cortisone shots into the facet joints. Any thoughts? To remind you, I'll mention again that I was totally pain free before getting hit this summer and then the PT twisted my head to loosen things up. The other day you suggested that I try to address the whiplash injury, so I'm wondering what you think about the shots? I'm pretty desperate in lite of the fact that i have three kids under five (one born two days after being hit this summer) and I will have to return to work pretty soon to keep us solvent. In my better moments I know I can get better, but I'm starting to panic when the raging pain kicks in with any activity. Thanks again for you help.  

Answer
John,

While cortizone is an anti-inflammatory, it also causes breakdown of connective tissue -- and it doesn't handle any muscular problems at all.

Compression of vertebrae by contracted neck muscles would cause contact and friction at the facet joints.  Relieving those muscular contractions relieves the excessive compression, freeing discs, as well, halting the process of degeneration, so healing can occur.

Clinical somatic education works quickly and may get you pain-free in one or two sessions.

Find a practitioner at hannasomatics.com/practitioners who makes you feel confident (not "hopeful") that they can help.

If necessary, contact me again.

with regard,
Lawrence Gold