Loss of range is also telling, yet some loss can be due to stiffening tendons and ligaments and does not necessarily mean fusion has occurred. I think the most accurate predictor of future fusion is signs of vertebral degeneration and bone growth on a current xray or MRI. In other words, if it is already happening then it will most likely keep happening.
I have loss of range in my neck only. My last x-rays 3 months ago showed a perfectly normal spine, neck included.
I don't know what's causing the neck stiffness, probably a lot of combined stuff, inflammation, muscle spasm and so on.
Can stiffening tendons or ligaments be "un-stiffed"? I've been that way for about 3-4 years now with no progression, good or bad. I stretch every day. It seems to be wee-bit better after two months on Enbrel but still about only half normal ROM on both sides (strangely, on the left side I can push it to almost normal ROM).
It sucks. I'd just like to keep what I have for as long as I can. I'm 27 now. I don't want to end up with a totally frozen neck too young. In my 40's I don't care, but before that it just attracts unwanted attention.
I have bone spurs in some of the facet joints in my neck, left side.
When I am in a bad flare, such that there is a lot of inflammation in my joints, that combined with those bone spurs, really press on the nerves at those locations.
Causes the neck and upper back on the left side to go into terrible spasms. The muscle spasms are largely what limit my mobility at the time.
A combination of getting the flares under control, thus less inflammation for less time (see the info below my name) and weekly chiro (caution there as not everyone recommends chiro and the wrong chiro could do more harm than good; all mine ever did for my neck that helps a lot is manual traction, the kind of manual traction that a manual PT did in the past, helps a lot when I need it). Too, I have an interventionalist who gave me a cortisone shot in those cervical facet joints that were most inflamed; it really helped reduce the inflammation there, take pressure off of those nerves. Again, not recommended for everyone, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Since it only lasted fully for a few months, and I didn't want the cortisone injections to become habitual, we decided to inject the worst of the triggerpoints in the upper back area including the upper traps, rhomboids, etc. All of this has made it so my neck and upper back are better than they've been in the 12 years since it all started. I do understand that some of what I've decided to do may sound risky and not for everyone, but it has helped me so much, and given me much better quality of life. And my neck in the past, when it all first started, was so bad, I never thought it would get better. But years of manual physical therapy and lots of manual traction and soft tissue work back then helped a lot; then fast forward to all the stuff I described at the beginning of this paragraph.
For me, I flare, and then am a bit better in between flares, so for me, its very cyclic. Thus have learned that when things seem to be at a point of no return, that for me, things can and do get better.....til the next flare. The bone spurs in my neck (and same for the bone spurs in my lower spine, and the arthritic changes in my SI joint) are progressive, and thus its hard to predict the future.
Something even riskier, bone spur surgery.....my interventionalist and I have discussed it......he and I want me to talk to one of hte surgeons of the practice. As time goes on, procedures improve, become less invasive all the time. Plus so long as I can be functional for now with less invasive methods, no plans for surgery now. But I do fantasize about the day that I have the bone spurs removed, and can once again sit in any chair I like, get in the car and go where ever I like, travel the world. But for now, am content to sit where I can, drive with ice packs only in my very old car for a short time, fly anywhere that I can get to in about an hour as a general rule. But to be able to just go.....that I guess is my dream. And some times, dreams do come true. But I'm also a cautious person and so surgery is the last thing on my list; if I can carry on without surgery, then that is what I will do.
And I will tell you, my old physiatrist who sent me to the interventionalist told me flat out that "everyone gets bone spurs as we age, and no one would ever consider doing surgery on me"....but after seeing the interventionalist, I was reminded that much of all of this is opinion, and everyone has there own. The most important thing I think is to find doctors who help us and that we have complete confidence in.
