Hi Vincent,    a very specific problem and kind of rare.     Whiplash?
Auto accident??? in your past??        Please post your question in
news:alt.support.arthritis    also to see if you can get an answer.

Harv

I have had neck and back problems for a time. Do you think yours is from
whiplash? Wear and tear due to age? It's hard for me to believe that computer
type work would cause a problem like you described. Unless you did not use
proper posture, sitting in front of a monitor for long long periods of time.

Mine is from whiplash. I also do computer work, and yeah it causes more pain.

Has your doc ran any MRI's? They are more in depth and better diagnosis and
then what treatment should be followed.

I am going the conservative way of treatment right now. Traction on the neck,
twice a week. And PT. Its not working. The next step for me is a Discogram.
Then most likely surgery. Just got a report back from my neurosurgeon. What
sort of doc are you seeing?

Before you go onto surgery, there are other steps of treatment you should
follow.

No, never had surgery on the neck before. But have read that your attitude and
following docs orders afterwards is a biggie to get better.

I forgot to add that I am also doing trigger point injections. Along with the
traction. Having one hell of a  headache from traction earlier. Had a trigger
point injection last week, something weird happened. After the injection, my
right ear started hurting really bad, like a fullness in them also. Also a
buzzing with a pulsing noise. Could be something to do with the muscles
becoming inflamed? Not sure.

The neuro report that came back, had some interesting things in it. Like I have
myofascial syndrome in neck and back.. Swelling of the knee joints. The pain in
the hip is getting worse. Just hopeing that surgery on lumbar will ease the
pain in the hip knees and legs. Crossing my fingers. The neuros main concern
right now is the lumbar, but the neck is a concern too. The neck is herniated
onto the spinal, but not making a indentation of any sort. The person who read
the MRI's and did not read the MRI's right, made the neck problem seem worse
than it really is. Having more xrays done soon also, to see if there is loss of
disk space?

Vincent, I have a herniated disk between C5-6, is this what your surgery is
for?  I don't think I've heard of surgery being done for facet joint
problems.

The neurosurgeon I saw when I was having problems with my neck said that he
wouldn't want to do surgery unless my pain was very bad, or I has having
loss of function in my arm, or had other neurological signs that my spinal
cord was being impinged.  I've never had that, though I have had some
whopping great headaches, and my neck often aches, but so far so good, I
haven't needed surgery.

I do find that sitting at the computer can make things worse, especially if
my monitor is positioned incorrectly, and I have to tilt my head up to look
at it.  You may want to work with an ergonomics specialist to get your
workstation set up so it causes the minimum amount of strain on your neck.
You might also want to get a chair with a high back, so you can rest your
head on the back of the chair and take some of the load off your neck.

Please say more about your neck problems, and what surgery your doctor
proposes, so I can comment more specifically.

Katherine

Vincent, I had c5 and c6 disc removed on 3/7/06.. right now, I can tell you
that the numbness is gone in leg and arm, and my neck pain has subsided also.
But I am one sore puppy in my neck and throat,I'm hoping after about 5 days
my pain and soreness are gone from my surgery. My doc said succes rate is
about 81%. you can email me at jonj@bellsouth.net if you would like to keep
up with my progress. Good Luck.