How to treat pinched cervical nerves that causes spasms?

Doctor's Answers 1

A proper assessment of your symptoms is warranted. While your MRI will reveal the affected sites, these have to correlate with your clinical symptoms.

Typically pinched C3 and C4 level spinal nerves should not lead to spasms as these do not supply big muscle groups in the neck.

Treatment for such symptoms are generally

1. Medication. Simple analgesia may help with painful periods. If your pain is neuropathic (nerve like pain), then anti-neuropathic agents such as gabapentin may be helpful.

2. Physical therapy. This includes physiotherapy and generally allows for greater spatial awareness of the neck and shoulder muscles. At the same time, prescribed exercises will strengthen weakened areas. Passive physical therapy includes massage, acupuncture etc. These, if helpful, will provide temporary relief.

3. Intervention. Considering the extent of pathology, you may have had a surgical consult. While there is a role for surgery ( you will require a proper assessment and consultation if this has not been done), pain intervention may be helpful.

These range from simple trigger point injections to help with muscle tightness, to xray-guided procedures to direct needles to specific parts of the neck bones (cervical vertebrae) to deposit therapy.

Do discuss these options with your friendly orthopedic surgeon or pain physician!

Similar Questions

What are possible causes of left hip pain in MMA practitioner?

I’m sorry to hear about your pain. For an active sportsman, that certainly can be quite distressing. I don’t think you have dislocated as that will really really be painful and will be hard to walk. But popping sounds can be a sign of other illnesses, perhaps you might want to see a doctor to get it properly diagnosed, there are some “childhood” diseases that can predispose patients to hip injuries.

Photo of Dr Paul Ang

Answered By

Dr Paul Ang

General Practitioner

What is the cause for sore and stiff fingers, and which specialist should I see in Singapore?

The most common cause of the symptoms described is trigger finger. Trigger finger is a condition where the tendons controlling flexion of the digit become inflamed and swollen. As these tendons glide in and out within a fitting tunnel called a tendon sheath, any increase in girth of these tendons can disrupt the smooth gliding action. Trigger finger is categorized into 4 grades. Grade 1 trigger finger: Initially, the additional friction from the swelling of the tendons cause pain when moving the finger.

Photo of Dr Aaron Gan

Answered By

Dr Aaron Gan

Hand Surgeon

Ask any health question for free

I’m not so sure about a procedure...

Ask Icon Ask a Question

Join Human

Sign up now for a free Human account to get answers from specialists in Singapore.

Sign Up

Get The Pill

Be healthier with our Bite-sized health news straight in your inbox