Bulging Discs in neck: management & treatment

[Harv]

Hi BoS members,

My first post...a newbie!

I have a social skiing background of 40 years.....and then 7 years ago, at 49yo, became addicted to the slalom course! 

Plenty to talk about, but my priority at the moment is treatment and management of bulging discs in my neck. I had a CT scan 12 months ago to confirm C5/C6. My chiropractor assures me this is not a new injury, but I just annoyed it when spending a few days re-installing the engine in my HJ47.

I have had massage, acupuncture, chiro & osteopath treatments....all are good...and they all say that treatment and recovery is a slow process.

I made it worse recently while skiing on holiday in Thailand.....a decent crash giving me a good healthy dose of whiplash!

So if anyone else has experience with treatment of whiplash, and bulging discs, I would appreciate any feedback to add to my existing knowledge of the condition, and hopefully speed-up my recovery.

Cheers, enjoy your ski!

Harv :)

 

[eyepeeler]

56 y/o C-spine discs don't take crashes well like a 17 y/o disc would.  It sounds like you are doing the right things...I would add spinal decompression and laser therapy 

[lpskier]

You could try radio frequency ablation. I get it on my L4-5. Doesn’t fix the problem but it eliminates the pain, lasts for a year or two until the nerve regenerates, then get it again. It really does the trick for me. 
 

https://www.cedars-sinai.org/programs/pain-center/conditions/cervical-block-radiofrequency-ablation.html

[swbca]

I had a neck injury from trying to catch too much slack.  I thought I had a 6 foot loop in my hand when I said hit-it while sitting on the edge of the dock with a dual boot slalom ski.  Turns out their was 10 more feet of slack I didn't see  At first my left arm was useless for weeks.  After years of pain and inflammation drugs I had surgery at the Mayo Clinic.  That helped and then it continued to improve over the next 15 years.  Now I can do almost anything except activities that create a compression shock for the neck.  I can ski, waterski, roller blade but I can't run, jog, use an ax or sledge hammer without causing a problem that takes a week to recover from.  No running includes tennis or other sports that involve running.

Not saying surgery is for you, but that's what happened here.