Relieve Neck Pain With Cutting-Edge Treatment
Neck pain is one of the leading causes of disability, impacting millions of people worldwide. It often leads to weakness in the arm, difficulty with balance, numbness of the arm, hand or fingers.
Sometimes, the pain goes away with anti-inflammatory medications, physical therapy, and cold or heat therapy.
But what happens when those remedies don’t work?
According to Dr. Michael Gerling – a Castle Connolly Top Doctor – cervical discectomy is frequently the ideal solution.
In simple terms, discectomy literally means “remove the disc”. In this procedure, a damaged disc is removed from the neck and replaced with an artificial one. As a result, pressure on a nerve root is relieved and the pain is diminished or gone altogether.
Look at the procedure more closely, however, and you’ll see why it’s important to work with a fellowship trained surgeon who specializes in spinal health.
Dr. Gerling explains that the surgeon first makes a small incision in the front of the neck and uses precise tools to gently pull apart the soft tissues to access the cervical spine. The damaged disc along with any loose disc fragments or bone spurs are then removed. Once the disc is removed, the disc space is opened to its normal height to take pressure off the impacted nerves. The artificial disc implant is then placed in the opened disc space between the two cervical vertebrae. Once the new disc is in place, the soft tissues are repositioned and the incisions are closed.
In simple terms, discectomy literally means “remove the disc”. In this procedure, a damaged disc is removed from the neck and replaced with an artificial one. As a result, pressure on a nerve root is relieved and the pain is diminished or gone altogether.
With more than 15 years of specialized experience in minimally invasive surgical techniques, Dr. Gerling knows how important it is to understand each patient’s specific situation so they can have clarity and peace of mind.
“There are a lot of misconceptions about spinal surgery,” he says. “One of the most common I hear is that it causes paralysis. Another is that it only makes the problem worse. The truth is that patients do extremely well when they are properly diagnosed and treated by an experienced surgeon.”
If you have neck pain and are considering cervical disc replacement, Dr. Gerling advises that you seek out a board-certified, fellowship trained surgeon. “This will help ensure you’re partnering with an expert who has the proven education and experience to perform the procedure safely and effectively,” he says. “The ultimate goal is restoration of function, quality of life and pain relief.”
The Gerling Institute provides comprehensive care for spinal disorders from the neck to lower back utilizing state-of-the-art medical technology. Its offices are located in New York (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island) and New Jersey (New Brunswick, West Orange and Clifton).
