Vickie
I have degenerative disk in my cervical area,Xray showed this.
When I sleep I get tingling in my arms and hands also I have
been getting a lot of pain in arms at night. What can I do to
help this condition?
Thanks Presser6
Hi Presser6, Your condition is so common it makes me sad. There are many people in your situation physically whether they have manifested the tingling sensation or not.
Remember that your cervicals are just the name for 7 of the 27 vertebrae; the mid back being the thorasics and the low back the dreaded lumbar. Your cevicals, your neck vertebrae, are really just your upper back. The fortunate and not so fortunate fact is that all of these vertebrae are negotiating their relationship to each other all the time since they are all connected. You might have read that I say the joints, vertebrae and muscles are making agreements all the time based on the most consistent information they are receiving. So I would say first to look at your over all posture and start making corrections there and then get more specifically involved with your neck.
The fact is your bones go where your muscle tension tells them so . . . look at a post by Martee, dated 8/30 'Right upper arm' and read thru the whole thread. I literally gave him two simple exercises to start and then later in the thread many more. They were more oriented to the torso but the arm problems are corrected when the torso muscles (popularly called the core) can do their job of keeping the shoulders in place and the neck then has positive tension. I think people think of muscle tension as a compression to the joints (make no mistake the vertebrae is an assembly of 27 joints), and in an inappropriate alignment this can be true. But when you have the proper, positive tension your vertebrae are held apart by the tension to create the space to allow the disks to maintain their health and perform their job of shock absorption without damage.
I think you will see about three posts previous to yours where Martee posted a Thank you to me because his symptoms are gone. It took really getting committed and his thanks, while appreciated, are really to himself. I can supply all the information in the world but it takes your concentration, committment, and consistency of applying the exercises to finally (6-12 weeks later) begin to realize some relief. Every Body heals at a different rate, depending on the level of their degeneration. It took me many years and many restarts (all before I left finance to be in fitness) to convince myself that I have to allow my body everyday to look at the physical, genetic, and life experience demands on my body relative to the expansive, pain free body I wanted to live in. I was in pain everyday of my life until I learned to take the responsibility for my physiology. I can't tell you how much energy and how easy I am in my physical body now. It's why I named my company The Physical Experience.
I will reinterate that the secret is not in over treating your neck. The secret is in creating a positive tension on the whole spine. Truly the body wants to be in a homeostatic state. It will comply with your request if you provide it often enough through your exercise both strength and flexibility.
Try these exercises and let's keep talking. I think Weight Watchers is a great program since they do so much of the work for you. It's nice to plug in.
Don't worry so much about stretching before you get on the treadmill or before strength. Your first few minutes of 'work' should be the appropriate warmup for the muscle group you are working. So take it easy in the beginning and do intervals; light resistence alternated with heavier resistence. On the treadmill this means as little as 2 minutes at a brisk enough pace that you almost want to break into a run, preceeded and followed by as much as 5 minutes where you have to pay attention but you are letting your heart rate come down. You may have to stop and stretch after the more intense phase; that's what the pause button is for. You will slowly be able to stretch out the intense phases and also increase the pace on them and diminish the low intensity and find that you can tolerate higher levels and still get your heart rate recovery as your fitness level increases. Whew! taka a breath Vik.
Intervals are a proven success program. Take advantage of them.
I think you have a great plan for 2006. I would be happy to refine this with you after you've implimented the foundation in the thread I referenced. It's easier to get into specific issues once you take care of the basics.
presser6,
Just a few words about degenerative disc disease. As Vickie mentioned, it is a VERY common problem. The discs between your vertebrae are normally soft and act as a cushion between these bones. Degenerative disc disease is a result of the normal aging process, and may not be the result of an acute trauma. Degeneration is common as the discs begin to have a slow loss of blood supply after the age of 30. Yes, age 30!! Their water content also diminishes which predisposes the discs to tears. With these changes the discs become less supple and the discs lose some of their height. This alters the position of the vertebrae and the ligaments that connect them which also allows the disks to tear more easily.
So, what should you do?? Read Vickie's post above a few times and then follow her directions to the other posts she mentioned. The temptation is to "rest". On the contrary, as she mentions, physical activity should actually be INCREASED , as overall physical fitness will help improve condition of your neck/back. Perhaps the single most important paragraph in Vickie's post was the one that begins with the sentence containing the phrase " the secret is not overtreating your neck." And , as she alludes to in her information, this is going to take some time----be patient and be persistent!!
Good luck. Dr Dave
Thank you both Dr. Dave and Vickie for your help. In my case
I quess hearing clicking and popping in my neck was just driving
me crazy.Since I have been thru one cervical disk operation, I
will do whatever I can to prevent having another.
You know, I forgot to tell you that one of my earliest clients was a post operative referral from an orthopedic doctor who was a personal client; I actually went to his house at 4:00a.m. before he had rounds at the hospital, that's dedication my friends. Anyway, his patient was still in pain and concerned, as you havbe been about the 'noise in his neck'. Long story short, the adjustments that occurred as a result of the work created noise and awareness of the neck muscles. Since his experience with any information around his neck was painful and negative it was a slow process to keep from alarming him. End Result? No pain, little clicking and popping and a higher level of confidence in his neck to support his many active interests. The mind can be a great barometer but it can get in your way. I would love to know how you are doing. Vickie
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