CERVICAL DISC INJURY. SYMPTOMS AND CONSERVATIVE TREATMENT.

Primary traumatic cervical disc disease and chronic disc disease associated with spondylitis aggravated by injury causes referred pain to the head, face, neck, arms, shoulders and chest, and even in the low back. Such pain may be reproduced by the injection of contrast medium for cervical discography. Dorsal nerve root pain is rare.Clear-cut disc derangement or annular incompetence may be demonstrated by discography at levels which reproduce symptoms. The pain pattern at each level is not consistent. Conservative treatment, involving primarily the use of a cervical extension collar, results in substantial improvement in 75 per cent of cases.