Cervical Radiculopathy – All you need to know
Cervical Radiculopathy is the term utilized medically to describe pain, tingling, weakness and numbness in upper and lower extremities. This is the impairment or disruption of nerve activity caused by compression of one of the nerve roots adjacent to cervical vertebrae. The nerve roots are offshoots of spinal cord that deliver signals to all parts of the body at respective intensity through the spine. Destruction and injury of nerve roots around the cervical part of the body can result to severe pain and inability to perceive sense of touch in many areas of the upper limbs determined by the location of the damaged nerve roots.
Signs and symptoms of Cervical Radiculopathy
The usual symptom that you can observe to patient with Cervical Radiculopathy is pain that travels from the neck down to the arms. You can observe that patients notice evident sensory symptoms than motor symptoms. You can expect for weakness of muscles when nerve compression reach its peak. The characteristic and type of pain may be different from person to person but most commonly it ranges from being dull, aching, and sometimes hard to localize down to stubbing, burning and easy to contain aching body part.
Radiculopathy has the capacity to bring about hypersensitivity to any form of touch and movement. It can also be numb in the skin area where nerve roots are nearly located. Note that aching arms and neck is the initial sign that nerve roots are already damaged due to your neck disturbance.
Causes of Cervical Radiculopathy
Disruption in normal integrity of nerve root and spinal cord can cause increase in pressure resulting from ruptured disc, degenerative alteration in bones, and bone injuries that adds pressure to the intact nerve roots. In the elderly, usual degenerative alteration in the disc can place even greater pressure in nerve roots. In some other patients, Cervical Radiculopathy has the possibility of causing ruptured discs which contributes to nerve root compression thereby causing pain and discomfort.
Treatment of Cervical Radiculopathy
Particular intervention is based on the main cause of cervical radiculopathy. When cervical root lesion is observed, application of effective traction and cervical collar is helpful in order to alleviate muscle contraction despite the nerve root complication and physical weakness. More often then not, this is placed even when at home for one hour about three to four times each day with utilization of weights. The needed force of pull depends mainly to the patient’s body type, body size and body position when applied whether lying down or upright. The positioning of the neck while on traction is essential too. The most convenient and pain-free position is when the neck is straight or slightly bent forward. Bear in mind that application of extension is highly prohibited. Traction can also be placed via head halter where you can see weight fastened on a threaded line by a pulley. The number of routine application of traction everyday depends on the good progress of patient’s condition.
Aside from traction, medication is also effective. The patient may need to get admitted in the hospital if body weakness persists or the weakness and pain are not alleviated with drug therapy. In severe cases, when all non-surgical measures are ineffective, patient may undergo surgical decompression in order to bring relief to cervical radiculopathy.
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