I have cervical stenosis with a disc bulge. Will physiotherapy resolve it?

Question

Hi doctor,

I am 30-year-old. I have mild cervical stenosis with a disc bulge at C3, C4, C5, and C6. The spine diameter are C3 - 9 mm, C4 - 9 mm, and C5 - 8 mm. Is this a permanent problem, or can it be resolved with physiotherapy and exercise? Kindly give your opinion.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

The disc degeneration and bulges happen as a process of wear and tear in the body, which is an ongoing process and happens in everyone. But some develop symptoms like pain or stiffness, which are usually due to local muscle spasm or ligament stretching or due to pressure over nerves that cross near to them.

Physiotherapy helps relieve the local spasm of muscles and ligaments, and exercise helps in building tone in weak muscles. All these should be done only on the advice of a doctor and under the supervision of a physiotherapist. The wrong exercise can also increase the symptoms. These measures may help in relieving the symptoms. Along with this medicines also help in that.

In some patients, if pressure over the nerve or spinal cord is much, they might need surgical treatment too.

For that decision, it is better to consult the doctor physically with all your MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) report, and films and decision is made based on clinical finding, response to medication, physiotherapy and MRI appearance in total.

I hope this was helpful.