New procedure helping disc pain

Neck pain, shoulder pain, back pain and arm pain can all be caused by a herniated disc. If left untreated, this can become debilitating and lead to nerve damage.

Now, a new procedure is helping to get people up and moving pain-free.

Just opening a cupboard was almost impossible for Kellie Weathers a few years ago.

“I was just having like, really, really bad headaches. I had a lot of tingling in my fingers down my arm,” Weathers said.

Weathers thought it was her shoulder, but when she took an MRI, they found out it was actually her neck.

As a receptionist, the toll of sitting at a desk 10 hours a day for 13 years caught up with her. Weathers had two herniated discs by the time she saw Mercy Hospital neurosurgeon Doctor Charles Park.

“She came and says, ‘I cannot work anymore. The pain is really debilitating,'” Park said.

The outer portion of Weather’s discs ruptured, and some of the softer material inside squeezed out and hit her nerves. Physical therapy, anti-inflammatory medications, muscle relaxers and steroid shots didn’t take away her pain. Doctor Park used an anterior cervical discectomy and fusion, or ACDF, to help.

“Anterior means from the front. Cervical means in the neck. Discectomy means are actually removing all the disc away from the nerve, and the fusion means they’re actually fusing the bone above and below the disc,” Park said.

Because Park went in from the front, no muscles were cut, and he said recovery is 50% faster than traditional fusion. Weathers went home from surgery the next day and was back to work in four weeks.

“This is actually one of the best surgeries that we do. It’s more than 95% successful,” Park said.

“I’m great now. I can move it; I can lift my arm, and there’s no tingling. It’s like a 100% better,” Weathers said.

People between the ages of 30 and 50 are most likely to get a herniated disc, and it affects men twice as often as women. Risk factors include sitting for long periods of time, being overweight, lifting heavy objects, repetitive bending or twisting for work or sports and smoking.