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Degenerative disc disease is a common condition that is very difficult to treat. There is not a one size fits all treatment for this condition. The problem is that the disc is the end of the degenerative process with other injuries leading the disc being abused and broken down. If the neck motion stability and strength are intact and keeping pressure off of the discs and joints of the neck the pain is usually well controlled. You see this often as a physician when a patient has an MRI for something other than pain or pain that just started recently but there is significant degenerative change that has been ongoing for years. They had no pain before because they were able to compensate for the problem. Once that last ability of compensation is gone though the pain increases quickly.
To treat this problem it is not possible to cure and remove the arthritis and discs. The answer is to provide the neck with the appropriate strength and stability it needs to make sure pressure is not on the discs and joints that has led to the degeneration. This can be accomplished with a combination of strengthening with therapy and healing injured ligament fascia and muscle structures that can no longer hold the weight of the head like they used to. Once this happens the pain will be controllable again and hopefully be maintained to prevent break down again in the future. Treating these areas with standard medical treatments are not often successful. Safe and well studied treatments like prolotherapy and platelet rich plasma are the best treatments for this kind of condition as a first step with PT. If these are not successful they will only make a surgery more successful if it is needed by providing more support for the surgically treated region.
At The St. George Health and Wellness Group, we have the solutions to your dis-ease. Our regenerative physician, can properly evaluate and suggest treatments other than addictive drugs and surgery. Knee pain, back pain, shoulder pain, Auto Accident, sports injury, we are your Rode Back to Health.
At the Road Back to Health clinic our Doctors will work with you to find the root cause of your pain and treat it in a way to provide long term relief not just a short term fix for the problem.