LaniR304

I just received my MRI results of my c-spine today.

I was in an auto accident--front end collision at about 40 mph--I hit another car who had already been hit and was stopped by the point that I impacted that vehicle so I had a pretty hard 'jolt' from the impact. That was at the end of August, so it has been nearly 4 months. I originally only had spasms in my lower back from the moment that I got out of my vehicle, but did not have any pain in my neck until about 2 months after the accident when I ended up in the ER with spasmodic torticollis. I was pretty much ok, a little tender if I pushed on the neck in some places, but really didn't bother me. Then the past few weeks, my right side of my neck, into my shoulder, and down to the scapula have had lots of muscle tightening. Then I noticed that my right arm started to have some numbness that mainly stayed in the upper arm, but over time it would go down to my forearm with some mild tingling in my fingers. As long as I didn't use my right arm, I was pretty much fine...but I'm right handed and can't help but use that arm. I requested an MRI of my neck (and L-Spine too) along with more physical therapy (I had 14 visits of PT for my lower back--at that time my neck was fine).

The MRI results stated that the exam was "essentially normal," but it did mention that there was degenerative changes of C-3 (I'm 24 and this auto accident 4 months ago was the first time that I had any sort of trauma to any part of my spine so that seemed odd to me) and also mentioned desiccation of C4-C6. I am not quite sure about the definition of desiccation and how that relates to everything.

I asked to speak with my doctor regarding this to answer my questions further, but I probably won't be able to speak with him until after the weekend and I am just looking for general information.

Thank You!