What is the Best Neck Pain Treatment for you?
A Guide from Expert NECK PAIN Doctors
Neck pain treatment has evolved rapidly. We break down the pros and cons of the best treatments for each type of neck pain problem and explain how to find a top pain treatment center for your pain treatment.
Exploring Options For Neck Pain Treatment
Our Neck Pain Specialists Explain Non-Surgical, Convenient Options
In this article our neck pain experts discuss the advantages and disadvantages of available pain treatments for neck pain to help you decide which treatment may be best for you if you.
Are you considering getting treatment for your painful neck? With so many treatment options available for neck pain, it can be overwhelming and difficult to choose which therapy option may be best for you. We hope that this article sheds some light on the many treatment options available and provide helpful information when choosing the treatment options that may be best for you.
Before we address treatment options, however, it is important to understand a few basics about neck pain, these are the most common forms of neck pain conditions:
Acute Neck Pain:
- Whiplash: Commonly seen in auto accidents, whiplash occurs when the cervical spine and head undergo sudden backward and forward movement.
- Sports Injuries: Trauma during sports can cause acute neck pain, including muscle strains, ligament sprains, and other injuries.
Chronic Neck Pain:
- Pinched Nerve (Cervical Radiculopathy): Compression of a spinal nerve in the neck can lead to pain, numbness, and weakness in the neck, shoulders, arms, and hands.
- Osteoarthritis or Cervical Spondylosis: Deterioration of vertebral joint cartilage and pads can lead to neck pain, often due to overuse over time.
- Degenerative Disc Disease: Aging-related deterioration of intervertebral discs can cause bulging or herniation, leading to severe neck pain, numbness, and tingling.
- Cervical Spinal Stenosis: Narrowing of the spinal canal can compress nerves, leading to pain, tingling, and numbness in the arms, hands, or legs.
- Herniated Disc: Compression of a spinal disc can cause chronic neck pain radiating down the arm or hand, and may also affect the jaw and head.
- Neck Muscle Strain: Overuse of neck muscles due to poor posture or incorrect sleeping posture can result in chronic pain, stiffness, headaches, and limited mobility.
Some painful neck conditions require more immediate treatment for full recovery, and it is therefore important to have your neck evaluated promptly by a medical doctor at a pain treatment center. A good pain doctor will always conduct a thorough physical examination, review your medical history & symptoms, and in some cases order x-rays, diagnostic tests, or blood tests to ensure a proper diagnosis to provide you with the best neck pain treatment outcomes possible.
When more conservative treatments such as over-the-counter pain relievers, lifestyle modifications (weight loss, switching from high impact activities to low impact activities, wearing supportive shoes, minimizing activities aggravating your pain) no longer provide adequate relief, there are many advanced, effective, minimally invasive therapies that can provide more effective pain relief and improved mobility. Let’s explore some of the best treatment options below and which may be best for you.
Types of Neck Pain Treatments
Cervical Facet Block Injections
Also known as: Gel injections, viscosupplementation, HA injections
Best For: Neck pain and stiffness
Treatment Summary
What Are Cervical Facet Block Injections?
This is a good spinal treatment for neck pain as it is less invasive and quick. It is normally picked for sufferers of arthritis. The doctor targets certain facet joints in your cervical spine and injects them with a tiny amount of local anesthetic drug and steroid medicine. A pain management expert must use a fluoroscopic guide for proper imaging and after the shot, the facet joint is numbed and the pain is blocked.
How are Cervical Facet Block Injection performed?
The doctor targets certain facet joints in your cervical spine and injects them with a tiny amount of local anesthetic drug and steroid medicine. A pain management expert must use a fluoroscopic guide for proper imaging and after the shot, the facet joint is numbed and the pain is blocked. The procedure is typically performed in a clinic and takes about 5-10 minutes.
There is no downtime, and you can immediately return to your normal activities. About one or two cervical facet block injections are enough in most cases, providing long-lasting pain relief.
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Patients respond well to:
Repeat treatments, if needed, have been proven safe.
Pain relief in some instances may last longer than steroid injections.
Cervical Facet Block therapy is an FDA approved treatment option for for neck pain due to OA by numerous highly regarded national and international medical associations
What To Stay Aware Before Booking A Pain Treatment
In some cases pain relief onset may take longer than other treatments listed, or may require 2-3 treatments before beginning to experience pain relief
Some Cervical Facet Block Injections treatments are contraindicated for patients with severe bird (avian) allergies, including patients with allergies to avian proteins, feathers, or egg products.
Treatment may not be fully covered by insurance in some instances
If you have an allergy to bird products there are safe hyaluronic acid formula options available for you. Your pain doctor can help decide which formula and how many injections would provide you the best amount of pain relief
Effectiveness
Ease of Insurance Coverage
Overall Safety
Recovery Time
Am I a Candidate for this Neck Pain Treatment?
Cervical epidural steroid injection
Also known as: Corticosteroids
Best For: Neck pain due to osteoarthritis, pain due to inflammation, painful neck symptoms requiring fast pain relief.
Treatment Summary
What are Steroid Injections?
As the name suggests, this is an injection that is given to the epidural space of your spine and it involves a steroids. The specific spinal space consisting of irritated nerves is the epidural space. This injection is given to minimize pain and inflammation in your neck, arms and shoulders.
People who receive these shots normally have arthritis, spinal stenosis and/or herniated discs that exert pressure on their nerves, causing pain, swelling, inflammation and discomfort. When a cervical epidural steroid injection is provided, these symptoms can disappear.
How is a Steroid Injections Performed?
As the name suggests, this is an injection that is given to the epidural space of your spine and it involves a steroids. The specific spinal space consisting of irritated nerves is the epidural space. This injection is given to minimize pain and inflammation in your neck, arms and shoulders.
The procedure typically takes 5-10 minutes and requires no downtime.
Do you know how to pick a pain treatment specialist for the best results?
Patients respond well to:
Steroid injections are minimally invasive and effective at reducing pain and inflammation
Steroid injections provide immediate relief in many cases, often covered by insurance
What To Stay Aware Before Booking A Pain Treatment
In some cases steroid injections may not provide lasting results, patients may have to have the procedure repeated every 3-6 months.
If you have been diagnosed with insulin dependent diabetes, immune deficient conditions, or severe osteoporosis, it is important to discuss with your doctor if steroid injections are safe for you.
Effectiveness
Ease of Insurance Coverage
Overall Safety
Recovery Time
Am I a Candidate for this Neck Pain Treatment?
Trigger point injection
Treatment Summary
What are Trigger point injection?
Trigger points, or “sensitive areas,” are usually found deep inside a connective tissue or muscle and ache when touched or overused. They appear in the form of knots or bands that occur when muscles are too contracted and can’t relax. There are trigger points in your shoulders and head too that can cause a lot of pain. To stop them from aching, these trigger points are deactivated with trigger point injections.
How is Trigger point injection Performed?
They entail a procedure where a tiny needle is inserted into a trigger point to deposit a local anesthetic drug and corticosteroid drug. Trigger point injections don’t have side effects or risks. They simply make the area inactive and pain free. A short treatment course will provide longer term pain relief. As the procedure is done in an outpatient basis, it takes a short period even when several areas must be treated.
Do you know how to pick a pain treatment specialist for the best results?
Patients respond well to:
Quick Recovery Time: Patients who are able to benefit from PRP treatments are back on their feet quickly, with minimal recovery time and increased mobility and flexibility.
A short treatment course will provide longer term pain relief. As the procedure is done in an outpatient basis, it takes a short period even when several areas must be treated.
What To Stay Aware Before Booking A Pain Treatment
An injection into the neck joint can entail some very rare risks, including: local infection and pain at the site of injection, nerve damage, or pain and stiffness.
Effectiveness
Ease of Insurance Coverage
Overall Safety
Recovery Time
Am I a Candidate for this Neck Pain Treatment?
Choose a Board Certified Pain Physician
When looking for a pain physician, it is important to select a physician who is qualified and has the appropriate background training. At VIP Medical, all of our pain physicians are Board Certified in Pain Medicine and Anesthesiology, meaning that they adhere to the highest medical standards. Board Certification requires extensive specialty-specific training and ongoing education to stay up to date on the most recent advances in pain medicine. All of our Pain Medicine physicians did an advanced fellowship specializing in Pain Medicine at Harvard, to learn the safest, most effective, and most sophisticated techniques to target pain. Our Pain Medicine physicians are spine specialists and see hundreds of patients with neck pain. We take the time to evaluate each patient as an individual, and can help select which treatment modality is most appropriate for your specific pain needs.
What could be the best location option for me?
If you need neck pain treatment, or if you are experiencing any neck pain symptoms, we are here to help. Our gold-standard pain centers, staffed by Ivy-league trained pain specialists, are located in New York. Our pain doctors will help you choose the best pain treatment for your unique individual needs.