I would like you to explain this finding to me and how it is treated.
Conclusion: Lordosis. Left scoliosis at the level of the C6-C7 segment. Status after ligament injury at the C6-C7 segment with dorso-medial protrusion at the C5-C6 and bilateral paramedial protrusion of the intervertebral disc, causing compression of the C6 nerve root bilaterally.
One of the world’s most renowned shoulder surgeons, a Frenchman by origin, consistently emphasizes that he operates on patients, not images, in response to such questions. By this, he means that not only surgery but orthopedic medicine in its entirety, including physiotherapy, can and should treat the patient’s symptoms, rather than the changes seen in imaging diagnostics, in this case, an MRI.
A comparison that resonates with my patients is a common blister on the heel. If you get one, the first thing you’ll wonder is what caused it. Usually, it’s the shoe. Whether it’s too tight, too loose, tied too tightly, or inadequately fitting in some other way, it will cause a blister that hurts. Similarly, in this case, images of the blister itself can describe it in detail, but they cannot indicate what led to it, let alone what to do to alleviate or remove the condition. Because if you go to a podiatrist, they remove the blister, but if you continue to walk in the shoe that caused it, nothing is accomplished.
In this specific case, it involves a complex change in the cervical spine, including disc deformation, the spine itself, and associated ligaments, which may be partially caused by trauma, exacerbated by degenerative changes. The images we see cannot be changed by therapy or surgery to resemble the state before the injury or ten or more years ago. What is possible, however, is to examine the patient, assess the condition of other muscles, joints, and other parts of the musculoskeletal system, and through stimulation of compensatory mechanisms abundant in the body, reduce or eliminate pain, and establish normal, or at least satisfactory function of the cervical spine, and subsequently, the body as a whole.
