New to nt and need help understanding recent mri.
 

I'm a 53 year old woman who has had back and neck problems since 1992 due to mva.
this mri is of my cervical spine.

There is severe narrowing noted at the C5-6 and C6-7 disc spaces. Mildo spurring is present. Overall alignment is within normal limits. There are no subluxations. Normal marrow signal is present. There is normal signal in the cord and surrounding soft tissues.

The C2-3 through C4-5 levels appear unremarkable.

At C5-6, there is a very mild diffuse disc bulge with some mild spondylitis spurring resulting in some mild to moderate bilateral foraminal narrowing. There is no central canal stenosis.

At C6-7, there is mild spondylitis spurring with an annular fissure to the right of midline. However there does not appear to be any evidence of neural foraminal narrowing. There is no central canal stenosis.

The visualized upper thoracic spine is unremarkable.

IMPRESSION: There is severe narrowing at C5-6 and C6-7. There are changes of cervical spondylosis at these levels. However there is only some bilateral narrowing present at C5-6.

I hope that this excruciating pain at times get resolved soon. I told my old doctor 10 + years ago how bad it was she did x-rays and gave me a rx for arthritis. Needless to say I just figured it was just something else I had to live with. I now have a new doctor (due to moving ) that ordered this mri.
Thank you for your help in understanding this mri.

It doesn't mention any nerve or cord issues...but that mostly means no visualized cause of pain.. soft tissue injuries can cause quite a bit of pain also..

[severe narrowing noted at the C5-6 and C6-7] some techs will give a measurement..

Where is the pain located, and do you have any other symptoms , like in hands/arms etc?

Was this a whiplash type injury?
What therapies & PT have you had?
besides the [ a rx for arthritis] hmmm...

My pain is mostly on my right side, my shoulder, chest , arm and hands have alot of numbness , pain between my shoulders, also weakness/ heaviness in my arms,tightness in the muscles, hurts to turn my head. I also have some very tender spot when very a little pressure is applied. I have trouble sleeping due to pain. I also have degenerative disc disease of the spine / osteoarthritis.

Yes, whiplash. I had pt / ot years ago for my lower back. I also had steroid cortisone injections to my low(L4- L5-S1)back & neck, these didn't give me much relief . I was told that this was something I would have to live with.

Since your MRI isn't very conclusive, and now that I read more of your symptoms described.. I'd like to suggest you read on our thoracic outlet syndrome forum..TOS for short..:) See if it applies after reading thru the sticky threads..
There are sticky threads for Drs, PT & Trigger points too along with the main TOS info sticky thread.

It can occur after a whiplash type injury, along with poor upper body posture, and work /activities can be a factor also. It is not well known, and somewhat controversial, so your dr may not even consider something like TOS.
By any chance do you also have a repetitive, or desk job?

I suggest starting with the first post here , it is a crash course on TOS and has therapies linked too.
Our Useful Links - Websites, Articles & Polls -
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread84.html

The main TOS forum page link-
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum24.html

Thank you, I will look into this. I have not worked since my mva in 92 due to the damage to my lower back.

Talked to my sil who is an Rn, she said that I would probably need surgery to correct this problem :/

Hi there,

Have you seen your doctor yet since having the MRI or is your appointment coming up?

I see the neurosurgeon on the 16th of February.

Stopped in to the radiology depth at the hospital and got a copy of my mri and x-rays the other day. I can see exactly where the narrowing is and why it's labeled severe.