Hi,
I would really appreciate some insight from BBB and others on an issue a dear friend is going through.
A female friend of mine was diagnosed with C4-C5, C5-C6 and C6-C7 herniations this summer. She had no symptoms up until the 15th of August this year when she began experiencing severe pain in her right arm, neck and back when doing any movement with her head. She went to see the doctor and the MRI showed these herniations.
Since then she took all kinds of physical therapies, involving tractions, electricity, ultrasound, laser, but none of that helped relieve the symptoms. She was prescribed painkillers because the pain is almost unbearable and she can’t function normally without them. She went to see three specialists.
Two of them recommend immediate surgery and the third is strongly against it saying she should do corrective exercises to fix this issue without surgery. I forgot to mention she is from Croatia. She never played any sports but is thin and in shape.
I remember reading a thread where BBB was explaining how cervical herniations are much harder to deal with than lumbar ones where you have many workarounds.
My questions are :
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How to approach this one in general, where to start ?
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What’s your opinion on surgery ?
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Would a proper training program to strengthen her back and neck area be enough to alleviate the symptoms since it’s a pretty hard condition she’s having ?
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How to approach her diet ? Right now she eats a pretty unbalanced diet with mostly fruit and some junk food. First thing that comes to my mind is upping her protein and start supplementing with Glucosamine.
Also, where to find a good specialist who could work with her and make some progress ? Everyone she’s been to mostly failed to make any noticeable improvements in her condition.
Thanks in advance for any help,
She is really going through the hardest time of her life
Kind regards from Croatia,
Mihovil