Neck Pain

Neck Pain services offered in Gainesville, FL

Your neck doesn’t have the same level of protection as the rest of your spine, which means you can easily injure it. If you have neck pain, Zeshan Hyder, DO, Rick Ramos, MD, and their team at Synchrony Medical Group in Gainesville, Florida, can help. They provide expert injectable neck pain treatments such as anesthetic and steroid drugs and minimally invasive surgery where necessary. Call Synchrony Medical Group or use the online booking feature to schedule a consultation today.

What causes neck pain?

Most often, neck pain is a symptom of soft tissue damage to the cervical (neck) vertebrae. This could be due to an acute injury or the effects of wear-and-tear over time. Muscle or tendon strains and ligament sprains are typical examples of acute injuries.

Whiplash is a particularly commonplace acute neck injury. It happens when you stop suddenly, for example, during an auto accident. The violent back-and-forth head motion stretches or tears the neck tissues, causing acute pain that can turn into a chronic condition without expert treatment.

Other conditions that cause neck pain include:

Herniated cervical discs
Osteoarthritis
Bone spurs
Osteoporosis
Rheumatoid arthritis
Cervical radiculopathy (nerve compression)

Chronic neck pain is also a common sign of stress because the muscles tighten to such a degree that they become knotted and painful. This type of neck pain can also spread, causing headaches and shoulder pain.

How is neck pain’s cause diagnosed?

When you visit Synchrony Medical Group, your provider discusses your current symptoms and reviews your medical history. They complete a physical exam, during which they might ask you to perform specific actions to evaluate neck function.

Depending on what your provider finds, you might need an X-ray, CT scan, or MRI. If it looks like there’s a nerve problem, they might want to do nerve conduction velocity (NCV) tests and an electromyography (EMG) test.

Your provider will discuss the test findings with you when the results are ready. They can also design a personalized treatment plan tailored to your needs.

How is neck pain treated?

Conservative treatments like physical therapy, medication, manual manipulation, and neck supports are often helpful for relieving neck pain. Synchrony Medical Group also offers injectable therapies for more severe or persistent cases, including:

Epidural steroid injections
Medial branch nerve blocks
Facet joint injections

These injections contain an anesthetic and/or a steroid medication for both immediate and longer-term pain relief. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections might also help by encouraging healthy new tissue growth.

If your neck pain isn’t improving, you might want to consider radiofrequency ablation or a spinal cord stimulator trial. You might need surgery, such as discectomy and fusion or artificial disc replacement, if your condition doesn’t respond to these treatments.

Find out more about overcoming neck pain by calling Synchrony Medical Group or book an appointment online today.