Question
I'm 53, female and had a lumbar lamenectomie at L4 L5 4 years ago.  I'm in constant pain and when I turn my head to the right I feel and hear a click and or clicks followed by a shooting zapping pain upwards.  
Can you tell me what this might be and what to do about it.
Thank you.

Answer
Aileen, with the information given it sounds as though you have had spinal problems for many years. Shooting zapping pain up or down the spine is most commonly due to either an acute trauma or long standing degeneration of the spine.  

The clicking you are hearing in your neck is most commonly due to a calcification of a ligament that was injured from a trauma or injury to your head and neck area. A trauma to this area that resulted in head and neck misalignment is very likely the precipitating cause, most commonly occurring many years before you even began having symptoms.

So this type of injury creates and inflammatory process that attracts scar tissue that looks a lot like sticky strands of bubble gum, when this bubble gum calcifies then clicking can result. It is not usually painful, but it has the potential to be if this inflammatory process continues, as bone spurs can develop pushing into the openings where nerves exit the spine and in some cases into the neural canal where your spinal cord is. This can result in the zapping shooting pain you are describing.

The best thing you can do is get checked by an Upper Cervical Doctor to see if you have head and neck misalignment which will create compensations in your neck, upper back, lower back and pelvis. This is the most common cause of neck and back pain. Try this website www.uppercervicalcare.com.

If you do nothing your condition will most likely get worse, then you will be looking at using drugs to cover yours symptoms or surgery.