Question
I was in a car accident on August 3 of this year. Severe pain in neck mostly on right side and right side of back. Went for physical therapy for a few months and seemed to get better. Then all of a sudden about a month ago my neck and right shoulder started hurting again with hot pain and tingling down my right arm. If I tilt my head to the left, the tingling and pain ease and sometimes stop.
In the hospital on 8/3 a CAT scan showed: diffuse convex left curvature of the cervical spine and moderate to severe right facet arthropathy at C4-5 and C5-6 with moderate arthropathy on the right at 6-7...productive disk degenerative change at C6-7...
Is this tingling and pain caused by the accident or from age? I am 64 years old.
Thank you for whatever help you can give me.
Sincerely,
Dianne Howard

Answer
Dianne,
  It's not because of the accident. The accident may have triggered it. That's not what's important here. You have a pinched nerve and physical therapy works on soft tissue (muscle, ligament, tendon) NOT pinched nerves. That's why the problem came back. You have arthritis and mild scoliosis from your description. When you have spinal bones out of alignment you will pinch or irritate your spinal nerves. You will also speed up the deterioration of your discs and spine when the spine is left out of proper alignment. What you need is chiropractic care to help with the convex left curve (also termed scoliosis) this will help remove pressure on the nerve and ease pain. Unfortunately, you cannot do anything about the arthritis.
Please consult a chiropractor and give it 6-10 weeks and make sure you follow up with occasional maintanence chiropractic care to stay healthy.

David Kulla, DC, CN
Synergy wellness
NYC chiropractor