Weill Medical College of Cornell University

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• Behavioral Neurology
• Epilepsy
• Glossary of Terms
• Head and Spinal Cord Trauma
• Minimally Invasive Surgery
• Movement Disorders and Pain
• Neuroimmunology
• Neuromuscular Diseases
• Neuro-oncology
• Pediatric Neurosurgery
• Skull Base Surgery
• Spine
• Stroke and Cerebrovascular Disease

Neck Pain

• Adult Spinal Deformity
• Anatomy of the Spine
• Ankylosing Spondylitis
• Cauda Equina Syndrome
• Degenerative Spinal Disorders
• Disc Disorders
• Failed Back Syndrome
• Herniated intervertebral disc disease (lumbar, cervical and thoracic disc herniation)
• Low Back Pain
• Neck Pain
• Sciatica
• Scoliosis
• Spinal Arteriovenous Malformations (AVMs)
• Spinal Compression Fractures
• Spinal Cord Injury
• Spinal Disc Disease (cerebral, thoracic, lumbar)
• Spinal Inflammatory Disorders
• Spinal Stenosis
• Spinal Trauma

Pain in the neck is common and may be a natural consequence of aging in people over the age of 50. Like the rest of the body, bones in the neck (cervical spine) progressively degenerate as we grow older.

• Over time, arthritis of the neck (cervical spondylosis) may result from bony spurs and problems with ligaments and disks.
• he spinal canal may narrow (stenosis) and compress the spinal cord and nerves to the arms. Injuries can also cause spinal cord compression.

The pain that results may range from mild discomfort to severe crippling dysfunction. Symptoms may last for several monthss or become chronic. Most of the time a variety of non-surgical treatments such as medication and physical therapy may relieve most of the symptoms, but do not treat the underlying cause. Surgery may be necessary for severe pain that does not improve with other treatments or progressive neurological symptoms. Surgery may remove bone spurs, disk material and provide lasting relief.

Treatment

Most spinal degenerative diseases such as spinal stenosis are treated by surgical decompression of the spinal canal and/or removal of a herniated disk. A minority of patients will require a surgical fusion procedure or implantation of an artificial disk.

Innovative therapies

Due to recent technological innovations and the introduction of computer-assisted spinal navigation, we are now able to perform many of the routine spinal procedures using less invasive techniques. Artificial cervical discs for the treatment of debilitating neck and arm pain will soon be available to our patients and will further improve our ability to preserve and restore function rather than immobilize eliminate movement as is being done with the fusion procedure.