Question
An MRI showed that two of my vertebrates have fused together from an apparent fracture of my neck when I was younger. The MRI also showed a herniated disc, bone spur, pinched nerve, and spinal stenosis. I currently exercise to try to keep the inflammation somewhat under control and use advil. My question is will this condition eventually require surgery or is it manageable with chiropractic care and exercise? Thank you for your answer.

Answer
Hi Donna,

The only time this requires surgery is if you have chronic pain that significantly impacts your daily living abilities, or if you have radiating arm/hand pain along with positive and worsening "neurologic signs" such as loss of a reflex, muscle atrophy, or muscle weakness caused by nerve compression.     In other words, if you just have neck pain and you can live with it, then it is not a surgical case.  If you have neck, shoulder blade and arm/hand pains that seem to be getting worse, along with weakness to grip strength or triceps (for example), then a surgeon might be needed to intervene.     Likely you do not have any inflammation, just pain from degenerated tissues, or pain from nerve compression (depending on the details of your MRI).       Exercise is good, and any exercise that reduces symptoms should be done more often, while those that provoke symptoms should be eliminated.   "Chiropractic care," which could mean just about anything, might be helpful.   I address cases like yours with different sorts of soft tissue therapy to reduce fascial adhesions around the joints (see:   www.faktr.com and www.grastontechnique.com), and also manual joint manipulation to the patient's tolerance.   I also would employ manual neck traction during treatment, and instruct the patient on how to do neck traction at home.  There are some devices out there that are okay but not great.    It is peculiar how we have huge high tech in our world, but nobody has invented a good home cervical traction device.   

I hope this was helpful.

Dr. G'