Neck Pain

Neck Pain services offered in South Miami, FL

Pain in your neck can stop you from working and enjoying your life, leading to stress and depression. If you’re unable to find relief from neck pain, triple board-certified neurologist Awss Zidan, MD, at Miami Headache & Pain Clinic can help. Dr. Zidan specializes in using interventional techniques, including steroid injections, radiofrequency ablation, and spinal cord stimulation, to treat neck pain. To benefit from expert treatment of persistent neck pain, call the South Miami, Florida office or book an appointment online.

What causes neck pain?

Neck pain results from damage to the cervical vertebrae or the ligaments, muscles, discs, cartilage, or nerves that form your neck.

Poor posture, spending all day sitting at a desk, and sleeping with your neck in an awkward position are all common ways to trigger neck pain. Or you might suffer acute trauma from being in an auto accident or incident at work, sporting injuries, and falls.

Some of the most common problems that can cause neck pain include:

Muscle strains
Whiplash injuries
Herniated and bulging discs
Arthritis, including facet joint arthritis
Cervical spinal stenosis
Degenerative disc disease

Conditions like these often cause cervical radiculopathy, where the nerves exiting your spinal cord get pinched or damaged by the structures in your spine.

Radiculopathy causes additional symptoms like tingling, prickling, and numbness, which, along with the pain, can radiate down your arms.

How is neck pain diagnosed?

To diagnose neck pain, Dr. Zidan conducts a medical history review, finds out about your symptoms and how they started and performs a physical examination.

Based on what they find during your exam, your provider might order further tests, such as X-rays, a CT scan, or an MRI. You might also need tests like an EMG (electromyogram) and nerve conduction velocity (NCV) studies if your provider suspects you have radiculopathy.

Diagnostic imaging and nerve tests can confirm or rule out certain conditions and help assess the extent of any damage.

How is neck pain treated?

The treatment you require for neck pain varies according to the cause and how badly it’s affecting you. For most patients, physical therapy, medication, and avoiding activities that worsen the pain provide effective relief.

However, if you don’t benefit from these treatments, Dr. Zidan offers advanced therapies such as:

Epidural steroid injections
Facet joint injections
Nerve blocks
Radiofrequency ablation
Spinal cord stimulation
Pain pump implantation

Spinal cord stimulation uses electrical signals to change the messages sent from nerves in your spine to your brain. They may alter the pain to a tingling sensation (paresthesia). Newer spinal cord stimulation technology uses different wavelengths, which stop the pain sensations rather than causing paresthesia.

If your neck pain does not improve after a few days or has become chronic, contact Miami Headache & Pain Clinic. Call the office or book an appointment online today.