Treatment of Cervical Disc Prolapses with Non-Surgical Techniques

Neck pain is a very common problem that can most people at least once in their life, Most neck pain goes away by itself within days. However, if prolonged, you should seek a doctor’s advice.

Symptoms related to neck pain:

Neck pain usually refers to shoulders or arms. It can cause headache, dizziness, arm numbness or weakness.

Causes of neck pain:

• Muscle tension.
• Muscle strain.
• Whiplash injury.
• Prolonged driving or use of computer and mobile phone.
• Poor posture in sitting or sleeping.
• Cervical disc herniation.
• Cervical spondylosis.

When should I call Koura Clinics?

You should call us if:

• Pain is severe.
• Pain is prolonged.
• Pain is getting worse.
• You have numbness in your arms or legs.
• You have weakness in arms or legs.
• You have difficulty controlling your bladder or bowel.

How is neck pain diagnosed?

After examination in our clinic, we may request some investigations such as:

• Blood tests
• X-ray
• CT scan
• MRI

Treatment options of neck pain:

There are basic steps to treat mild neck pain:

• Keep a proper posture.
• Stay active.
• Avoid carrying heavy objects.
• Avoid prolonged sitting, standing or prolonged use of mobile phone and computer.
• If the pain is still persistent, please do not hesitate to call us and reserve your appointment.

Treatment options in Koura Clinics:

After examination and checking labs results and MRI images, we decide one or more of these options  according to your condition:

Medications (analgesics, anti-inflammatory drugs and muscle relaxants….)

Physiotherapy sessions.

Non-surgical interventions (our main scope of interest)

Surgery (which we often try to avoid) usually if there is weakness or severe compression of nerve roots.

Now we will discuss the non-surgical interventions available for treatment of neck pain and its related conditions.

Some important tips:

Interventions are done in the operation room/ Cath-lab.

All interventions are done under sedation and local anesthesia.

Advantages of non-surgical interventions:

• Patients are discharged from hospital 1 hour after procedure.
• Treatment of multiple disc levels.
• Safe and effective.
• Rare side effects.
• Early anticipated return to normal activity.
• Cervical epidural injection.
• It’s a non-surgical procedure that used to alleviate neck pain caused by many conditions. For example, cervical disc herniation, osteoarthritis of cervical discs and cervical canal stenosis resulting in inflammation of cervical nerve roots.
• The intervention takes around 5 minutes.

Cervical nerve roots radiofrequency:

A non- surgical procedure used mainly when there is referred pain to your arms resulted from cervical disc herniation or spinal stenosis that led to cervical nerve roots inflammation or irritation.

It takes around 30 minutes.

Cervical facet radiofrequency:

A non-surgical procedure similar to that of nerve root radiofrequency but it works on cervical facet joints inflamed by cervical facet arthropathy, osteoarthritis or degeneration.

Procedure time is 30 minutes.

Percutaneous Laser Disc Decompression:

A non- surgical procedure used for treatment of small cervical disc herniation. A needle is introduced inside the disc for co-ablation of its nucleus to reduce nerve root compression and alleviate the inflammation.

Procedure time is 30 minutes.

Minimally-invasive Disc-FX:

A non-surgical procedure for treatment of contained cervical disc herniation moderately compressing a nerve root. It’s inserted inside the disc through a needle and adequately removes a small part of disc tissue.

Disc-FX is a very advanced techniques that you can hardly find in any pain clinic in the middle east other than Koura Clinics.

Procedure time is about 40 minutes.