Neck Pain

Her Neck Goes Out All the Time: Definitive Treatment?

Every physician has patients who challenge his or her skills, and it’s the reaction to those patients that determines what kind of doctor that physician is —Chris was one of those patients. She would tell me consistently that “my neck goes out all the time,” but every tool I had to use couldn’t seem to really put…read more

New England Journal of Medicine: R.I.P. Back and Neck Fusion Surgery

There has been an explosion in low back and neck fusion surgeries in the past two decades. However, I often tell my patients that “fusion is a dog with big fleas.” After they have a spinal fusion and are seen in the office and have more pain somewhere else, I tell them that they’re now…read more

What Is a Flexion-Extension X-Ray?

On this page: What is spinal instability? Can instability be seen on an x-ray or MRI? What is a flexion-extension x-ray? The problem with flexion-extension x-rays How to make sure your test is worthwhile Back and neck pain patients and doctors are often confused by the idea of instability in the spine. From the patient’s…read more

Pain in Side of the Neck and Head? Meet the Superficial Cervical Plexus

Many times pain in side of the neck and head is due to injured joints in the upper neck known as facets. However, sometimes it can also be due to a little known neck nerve that supplies these areas. Given that the nerve goes to some very specific places, if your distribution of pain looks…read more

Back of Shoulder Pain: Your Neck May Be the Culprit!

Two years ago, I went into work to see patients with a sensation that someone was pushing the back of my shoulder forward. I initially thought that it was a rib moving in a weird way, but it soon morphed into awful back of shoulder pain. For two weeks I was convinced this was a…read more

New Treatment for Neck Pain: Platelet Lysate and Heidi’s Journey

At our annual Regenexx network provider conference in Denver this past week, a network physician who is more focused on interventional spine came up and thanked me for introducing him to a new treatment for neck pain – platelet lysate. This one change had revolutionized his practice as he found it much more effective than…read more

How to Recover from Neck Pain? A Little Muscle Holds the Key…

How to recover from neck pain? The status of a little stabilizing muscle in your neck may determine if you recover quickly or have long term chronic pain. This little muscle can also be easily seen on an MRI, but the likelihood that the radiologist reading your report knows to take a look at and…read more

Neck Nerve Ablation: Why Ablate When You Can Regenerate?

A revolution in medicine quietly occurred in the 90’s that didn’t make the press or get screamed from the mountaintops, but it was a game changer none the less. Smart people figured out that neck joints were being injured in what was amorphously known as “whiplash”. The revolution came when someone figured out that neck…read more