Conversation: The conversation between human and AI assistant.
[|Human|] Hello. I am 47 years old. I had a ACDF in 2005 and didn t have any problems with my neck until March this year. It started off with with a stiff neck after hurting my neck, then burning pain down my left arm, all the way down, and weak hand. I also had burning pain in my left scapular. The burning is now constant, causing terrible frequent headaches and burning pain in my right arm. I feel my head is so heavy on my neck and that at times I need to support my left shoulder from the intense heaviness and burning. My CT scan from Tuesday has come out with: C4/c5 disc osteophyte complex which indents the ventral aspect of the cord resulting in mild canal narrowing with a residual AP diameter of 9mm. Mild bilateral unconvertebral spurring. Mild bilateral neural foraminal narrowing. C5 /c6 anterior fussing noted. Anterior osteophyte indents the ventral aspect of the cord and result in mild canal narrowing with a residual AP diameter of 9mm. Bilateral unconvertebral spurring resulting in mild bilateral neural foraminal narrowing. C6/C7 anterior fusion noted. Bilateral unconvertebral spurring resulting in mild bilateral neural foraminal narrowing. Can you tell me what this means in layman s terms. Will this require surgery?
[|AI|]  Hi, neck injuries or cervical spine injuries are sometimes common in most of us. CT or an MRI scan for 75% o people aged above 30 are not found normal. But as reading your complaints it looks like we can hold onto your symptoms and find a remedy. You are getting an abnormal sensation along with pain in the upper back and upper limb. This could be a result of the nerve getting trap as you have put here your CT or MRI reports. What you need to understand is that by maintaining the intervertebral disc space back to the normal limits will solve your problems. For that you need to focus on strengthening the neck muscles, trapezius, interscapular muscles, and upper limb as a whole. For that you may have to undergo some physical therapy sessions where a therapist will help you reduce pain by using Ultrasound therapy and Transcutaneous electrical muscle stimulation. Post that the therapist will help you learn some exercises for neck, interscapular region and upper limb as a while. Once you practice this on a daily basis it will surely help you to lessen the symptoms and give you the active lifestyle back. Kindly try to follow on to the advice, and I am pretty sure you will be helped. Most of my patients are helped with the same and have an active lifestyle again. I wish you a speedy recovery and wish to hear from you that you are just up to the life again. Thank you