Greetings, dear friends, it's another week in the Steemit Learning Challenge, and I'm delighted to join the contest organized here by @ashkhan. This week we are looking at a topic Cervical Radiculopathy.
To begin, I must appreciate the organiser of the contest as it is indeed a wonderful lesson because it was very educative. I will love to share my participation
| What's Cervical Radiculopathy? Write in your own words after getting knowledge from the lesson post. |
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Cervical Radiculopathy or pinched nerve, is a case where the cervical spine which is usually around the neck region becomes compressed causing a lot of pain around that region and beyond and this causes weakness of the entire region.
There are many factors that cause these very Cervical Radiculopathy and we will be discussing a few of them below for your information and education. So let's look at a few of them below.
Causes of Cervical Radiculopathy
Injury: When you get injured around the neck region, this can lead to the compression of the nerve around the neck.
Degenerative Changes: When you have issues like arthritis around the neck you may be subjected to having a compressed nerve root which is alos another cause of the Cervical Radiculopathy.
Herniated Disc: There are tendencies of the material gel in the spinal disc been rapture causing the nerve root around the neck region to be compressed.
Symptoms
To know that you have Cervical Radiculopathy one may see the following symptoms in his or her body pain, numbness, weakness burning etc., to better explain these let me talk briefly about them one after the other.
Pain: You will always notice pain around the neck, shoulder arm and the hand region. When you notice pains in this region then you must know that Cervical Radiculopathy is your possible issues.
Numbness: When you stop having feelings in some parts of your body such as the region metioned above then you are to suspect same.
Weakness: When it becomes difficult for the person to start moving some part of his or her body such as the arm, finger etc then you will know that you have symptoms of the said illness.
| How would you diagnose a Cervical Radiculopathy? Any clinical investigation or assessment tests? |
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To properly diagnose Cervical Radiculopathy you may want to consider following the steps below for an effective results. Medical History, Physical Examination, Imaging Tests (X-rays, MRI, CT Scan) and Electrodiagnostic Testing. Let me explain each of the following steps below for more clarification.
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Medical History: To start diagnosis, the patient medical history must be properly checked so as to know if the person has same issues before. Also check the symptoms and then find out possible causes of it.
Physical Examination: You are to check for the mobility and the response of the patient. If the patient complains of pains while trying to move those region then that must be taken into record.
Imaging Tests: Here a lot of image testing is done such X-rays, MRI, CT Scan to check for abnormalities and many other things.
Electrodiagnostic Testing: The use of machine to assess the condition of the nerve and how the function of the nerve is.
To treat this illness, the process may vary depending on how severe the patient condition is. So below I will share some treatment option below.
Conservative (Non-Surgical) Treatments: This form of treatment doesn't require surgery. Here I will discuss Physical Therapy, Medications, Lifestyle Modifications, Cervical Collar and Epidural Steroid Injections.
Physical Therapy: Ensure to exercise regularly to help your nerves become flexible. Move your neck and shoulder.
Medications: Make use of Nonsteroidal for pain and corticosteroids for muscle relaxation.
Lifestyle Modifications: Avoid anything that keeps worsen the situation you have already.
Surgical Treatment: In cases where the condition of the person is severe and the conservative treatments fail, then the person will be recommended to go ahead with the surgical treatment.
Discectomy: This is the act of removing the disc that is on the nerve which doesn't allow free movement around the neck.
Foraminotomy: In the place where the nerve stays, there is room for enlarging it to accommodate other things that aid free movement and that is where the Foraminotomy came from.
| Try to practice at least 3 exercises that you have learned from the lesson. Share images, gifs or videos while practising. |
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Here in this part I carried out practicals on Isometric Neck Flexion, Isometric Cervical Rotation and Isometric Neck Extension. I made a short video and also took pictures while performing this task.
Isometric Neck Flexion
https://youtube.com/shorts/1Xs64pt8zYE?si=KBiQmEY-e2Zct5T0
The Isometric Neck Flexion exercise is meant to strengthen muscles around the neck and also it helps to improve the flexibility around the neck region.
Isometric Cervical Rotation
Isometric Cervical Rotation, is an exercise that is carried out to aid rotation of our neck as you know it is difficult for the neck to rotate 100% so this exercise helps make it more flexible.
Isometric Neck Extension
https://youtube.com/shorts/g8zbMayuUAM?si=OfsJyE-RUPgG257d
Here this exercise called the Isometric Neck Extension helps you to master extending your neck and also strength the muscles around it to make it stronger and healthier.
| Share your review after performing these exercises either on yourself, healthy individual or patient. |
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This exercise is performed by me on myself and I do it so as to know the feelings myself. When performing the Isometric Neck Flexion I felt the muscles around my neck stretched which means that it is being strengthened.
Also when carrying out the Isometric Cervical Rotation, I notice that there is a little flexibility in the motion around my neck though it wasn't very easy to turn the neck 100% because of the pains and the stiffness I felt.
Sometimes I want to extend my neck to see further away and that is the reason I tried the Isometric Neck Extension. In doing that I noticed that it is not really an easy task to make this extension.
Finally I want to invite @josepha, @suboohi and @dove11 to also share their participation in this contest if they haven't done that already.
Thank you for understanding the lesson and sharing your assignment; I hope that you will enjoy this week's lesson and try to implement it in your life if you see any such case.
Observations
Task 1 (2.7/3)
You have shared a great knowledge about cervical radiculopathy, and it's causes, symptoms, treatment, & it's second name too but also add the vertebrae involve in cervical radiculopathy. I appreciate your effort.
Task 2 (2.6/3)
In the second question, you tell us about how you have to assess a patient by doing the physical examination, history taking, investigations of patients but you can also add the special tests to assess the patient like spurling test. That's good you add the additional treatment for cervical radiculopathy. You have share good knowledge but the best test for nerve examination is NCS nerve conduction study to assess. Great.
Task 3 (3/4)
You try the isometric cervical extension, flexion and rotation. But while performing Isometric exercises you have to apply resistance & apply that much force that didn't allow head movement. You were moving your head easily and apply almost no resistance in isometric neck extension. But Isometric Neck flexion was performed in correct way. Remember always apply heating pad to relax your muscles before performing these exercises. I appreciate your efforts.
Overall you made a great attempt to answer all the questions. I appreciate your efforts. But next time try to avoid the above written suggestions. Keep learning and try to implement your knowledge to the people suffering from any cervical radiculopathy. Thank you.
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