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531667 tn?1215612330

Chronic Neck and Back Pain: 2 mm Central Protrusion Indenting Thecal Sac- What does this mean and what can I do for it?

I am a 22 yr old female and I have been experiencing chronic neck and back pain for the past 4 years after a car accident. My muscles are in a constant spasm and I am in pain daily. I have tried every method of pain management, chiropractic, and physical therapy. I just had an MRI done and the findings reported a 2 mm central protrusion at T8 - T9 which indents the thecal sac without deforming the cord. This must be what is causing my pain, as nothing else has been discovered. I have been through the run around with doctors. Pretty much all of them have dismissed me and just write prescriptions for pain meds. I am too young to have this chronic problem, but I have a feeling the doctor will do the same thing with this new MRI finding. I understand that in many cases this probably would not have too much of an effect on a person, but is it POSSIBLE that this is what is causing my serious pain throughout the midback, neck, and shoulders. If so, what can I do and can someone explain what exactly this finding means. Is this a herniated disk?
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531667 tn?1215612330
No I have not had facet injections. If I did have these injections and felt relief, what step would be taken next? Would this just be a repetitive pain manangment procedure, or would this lead to an alternate diagnosis that could be treated?
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517190 tn?1211639308
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Dear Alannav,

MRI scans on people without any problems show roughly 30% with ‘MRI abnormalities’ yet are meaningless since they have no symptoms.   Neck pain, short of coming from a disc herniation, may not show anything on any test.  The T8 issue sounds pretty insignificant and wouldn’t be so easy to explain any pain in the neck which is above that.  (It would really need to be correlated with your physical exam.)  

Have you had facet injections separately at each level in the neck to try to see if one of them is the problem?  

Dr. Rosen

Charles Rosen, MD
Clinical Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery
Spine Surgery
University of California, Irvine, College of Medicine
Founding Director, UCI Spine Center  
Orange, California

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