Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Neck braces?

Has anyone had any success using any sort of a neck brace for upper back/neck pain???


I've had to be pretty creative in keeping this neck pain to a screaming minimum, but lately I've found that if I wrap a towel tightly around my neck and sleep in it like that, that it greatly reduces the neck pain....since I don't have an "official, medical" neck brace. It's sort of the relief I get from traction, but different. As they say in Philly, "Naaaah meeeeeean (translated: know what I mean)?"


I dunno whether it's the fact that the towel keeps the neck *warm*, or *straight*, or *motionless* or whatever.

(And as a side note, after doing some Googling around for neck braces I landed on a couple "neck brace appreciation" sites that were not quite the "flavor" of appreciation I was looking for, naaaaaah meeeeean? )

Rox
SURIYAH!!!


Images courtesy of http://www.tekkenzaibatsu.com
http://www.geocities.com/artisan1998.geo/index.html

Hey there...As a matter of fact I was going to ask my doc if one might help me too!
You might ask John aka dragonslayer. I think he mentioned using something for his neck before. I think it was a brace he said. I could be wrong. Bugs dont have good memories...

Let me know if you DO find a good site or what kind is best though. My neck is pure he** at night. It makes my shoulder then my left arm start throbbing. Advil is doing nothing for the pain. I take the codeine on the bad days but it makes me so nauseated.

see ya'


Buggy

Hi Rox,

I have a neck brace and used it when I had back/neck pain before seeing a rheumy (was seeing an orthopedic dr) and being diagnosed. I use it occasionally now when my neck is playing up. It did help me. I've slept with it as well.


Michelle

Rox

I have had a medically fitted back brace and a physiotherapist fitted neck brace. Both caused increased pain. My bones and muscles have done as they have pleased for so many years that the braces only caused "nerve" problems and the neck brace caused 'nerve" problems and dizziness. Everyone is different though and I know some people have really benefitted from braces. I do use a rice heating "sock" on my neck at night and that really helps with the neck pain.

Take care

Simone

Hi, Rox:

Don't believe our Buggy--she has a great memory and I was a bit tardy in replying to her PM that included this topic. I'm sure that she would not mind if I shared my experiences with you and others [below].

I have had really bad neck pain for a couple of years. Here is a brief history:

The pains were first very severe about 15 years into the AS, and I found a chiropractor--Dr. Zimmerman--with a machine that "punched" things into place. He asked whether my mother was still alive (no) because many of his patients had been delivered using forceps, and he was certain that I was in this group.

I did not need another treatment for 9 years (after Dr. Zimmerman had left his practice and another capable fellow 'inherited' his machine and patients), but the more recent treatments did not 'hold.'

To the present, over the past couple of years I have fought the neck damage although the NSD and antibiotics have totally removed the inflammation, so it has not been as severe as it would be (and is), during a flare.

I reasoned that the kyphosis was the main problem causing the nerve pain, so a collar lifts the front of my head slightly--but really hurts while strapping it into place.

Good luck in finding a collar. Sometimes 'Salonpas' or 'Salonsip' (I discovered this in The Philippines, but they are available in pharmacies in US, also) can help ease the pain. These are patches that adhere to the skin and release a menthol-based liniment that helps a bit, especially with the spasms. When these got too bad, I used a cold can of Coke pressed right against the area the nerve is affecting. I also used a towel, but dampened it and placed it in the microwave for a minute or two.

There was an encouraging thing I read in the Cayce literature about neck pain and movement. I typed it out and posted it on the NSD Forum--search words: castor oil, peanut oil, Cayce, McGarey; if you are interested and cannot find it, I will locate it or repost for you.

I hope you can obtain relief from this miserable pain--it can be just the worst
John


[The following is what I have just written to Angie:]

THE NECK PAIN. It has been just about the toughest challenge from AS, and I can only give you the interim results but so far I have had great improvements and no longer fear the pillow or gingerly test my angles as I lever myself out of bed with my butt as the fulcrum; the pain from pillow lift-off is much less since starting the prolotherapy.

I don’t have any keen explanation other than the way it is described in their literature. Basically, they inject stuff that causes a local form of inflammation and this action produces new ligaments. I think that the new ligaments pull my head a bit back to [a more] normal position, relieving some of the pressure on the nerves that were previously being pinched.

Before the treatments began, I was starting to get some relief by wearing the collar. It is a semi-rigid type like the basic soft collar with some leather sewn onto the outside. I put this on as tight as I could stand and still breathe, then wore it most of the time. During this period and until today, I began taking TJ Clark’s colloidal minerals along with Knox gelatin, in place of previous products and in addition to the many supplements I was already taking: Calcium, magnesium, zinc, boron, etc. And of course I had totally excluded starches. I used one drug—allopurinol—but only for a brief period and in a very moderate dosage.

Before the treatments, I took a long time just in driving the short dirt road from the highway to my house, but now I can go over the corrugations and potholes with ease!

I use a neck brace when the need arises............and a back support, the doctor advised me only to use them when i really needed them.

And DO NOT sleep with them on.

oh yeah and they defo helped.

That's very interesting. I asked the question mostly because I was expecting a lot of people to say NO, the neck braces didn't help, because AS is inflammatory and the less you move the worse it gets, splinting is the worst thing yadda yadda yadda.


It seems almost one half of the group is helped by something and one half is not.

(or, I can always find a "Me, too!" on KickAS no matter what I ask )

Rox
SURIYAH!!!


Images courtesy of http://www.tekkenzaibatsu.com
http://www.geocities.com/artisan1998.geo/index.html

Hi Rox

I am going to offer a big fat guess here. Maybe supporting your neck at night prevents it from moving or slipping into an unfavorable position that inflamed ligaments can not support properly. I have never used one myself.

Does that sound plausible?

Stephanie

Rox I broke my neck when I was 16.Wore a neck brace for 1 and 1/2 years.The same doctor found my AS.He told me not to use the neck brace do to muscles would start depending on the brace.But when my neck starts to hurt where I can't stand it a neck brace feels good.
Bradford

Some days you need to look at life though the child in you.

Sounds very plausible Also I would think that just the strain of holding up the head, using inflamed ligaments, would cause pain too. I dunno

Rox
SURIYAH!!!


Images courtesy of http://www.tekkenzaibatsu.com
http://www.geocities.com/artisan1998.geo/index.html