Pinched nerves in neck

[Darrell3052]

I had an MRI. and my family doctor told me I had several pinched nerves in my neck one in C3 and C6 on the left side and C5 on the right. All I know is I'm having very bad pain in my whole left arm. My doctor is telling me physical therapy and heat should do the job, but that's like telling someone warm water will relieve a toothache. I'd just like to hear from a professional thats had dealings with this type of injury just exactly what to do.   Thank you

[Darrell3052]

Thank you.

[Caliber2005]

Hi Darell,
How are you feeling now?
Well as far as your condition goes, yes your Doctor is right in prescribing physiotherapy.
There are many different terms used to describe spinal disc pathology and associated pain, such as “herniated disc”, “pinched nerve”, and “bulging disc”. The bones which form your spine are called as vertebrae. The space between two vertebras is cushioned with disc. When disc bulge or break open due to any reasons like ageing, or trauma to spine, it is called as herniated disc and this can cause pinching of nerve. It can happen in any region, but is more common at lower back in lumbar region and cervical region.
It is advisable for you to do physiotherapy for relief of pain and spasm of muscle, pain killers and pain management specialist for conservative management.
But if this fails, the option left is surgery.
You may want to consider surgery if you have had severe shooting pain in shoulder radiating down to arms for more than a month. Only about 1 person in 10 still has enough pain after 6 weeks to think about surgery.
As there are complications associated with spinal surgery, the doctor will exhaust all his conservative management and then opine for surgery.
I think you should follow your doc's opinion and get best physiotherapy along with other conservative management as described above and then decide about further course of action.
Hope this helps you.
Bye.