Neck bulge blues

[DTQ_Blue]

I just learned this week that I have a bulging cervical disk. I had suspected this and stopped umpiring a couple of weeks ago to see if my symptoms would lessen, which they did, and to wait for my insurance company to authorize my MRI, which they did after a denial and appeal.

I will see the specialist in a couple of weeks and discuss my options with him, but I wanted to know if anyone has had to deal with cervical disk problems and trying to continue umpiring.

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally Posted by DTQ_Blue

I just learned this week that I have a bulging cervical disk. I had suspected this and stopped umpiring a couple of weeks ago to see if my symptoms would lessen, which they did, and to wait for my insurance company to authorize my MRI, which they did after a denial and appeal.

I will see the specialist in a couple of weeks and discuss my options with him, but I wanted to know if anyone has had to deal with cervical disk problems and trying to continue umpiring.

Yes. I remember it well. It was the first Saturday in June, 1999, and I was making the toss for the first summer league basketball game of the season when I compressed the discs in my neck and I lost the use of my right arm. Since I was not a big name superstar athlete by the time I went to my family doctor, an orthopedic surgeon, an neurologist, and then a neurosurgeon, it was almost three weeks from the time of the injury until I was told on the first Friday in July (and I still did not have use of my right arm)that I would have to have neck surgery on the following Tuesday. Over the weekend I regained almost 90% usage of my right arm and avoided surgery by 36 hours, but I still was not allowed to do any running or officiating for over 4 months. But other than that I am still umpiring baseball and fastpitch softball, and officiating basketball.

MTD, Sr.

[DTQ_Blue]

Saw the specialist. The bulging disk is compressing the C5-6 nerve root and may be causing very slight pressure on the spinal cord. Not good.

We are going to try a "conservative" treatment option first, if that doesn't bring relief, he is likely to recommend disc removal and fusion.

I will do what I have to do for my long term health but I wanted to ask the forum if any of you are aware of FP umpires who have been able to continue working after cervical fusion surgery.

I particularly wonder about the neck angle when I go into my plate crouch. I work games down to the 10s and 12s level and I have to get low in the crouch and flex my neck backward to get a level eye angle to the pitcher.

Maybe this will be my gateway into slo-pitch for the rest of my career.

Mike

[CelticNHBlue]

My wife and I are strong believers in Chiropractic. We have been going regularly for years now. Initially it was for corrective issues. My wife was in a not-so-bad car accident but the jolt was enough to cause some misalignment. After two years of PT, we decided to try Chiropractic and within six months she was pretty much back to normal. I twisted a disk in high school that was initially fixed but started to show signs of returning to a lesser degree. A visit a week and and month later, back to normal. We now visit for routing maintenance and general health. We even bring our two kids (4-1/2 & 19 months) for preventative maintenance. You'd be amazed how an adjustment can help with migranes, lethargy, numbness, all sorts of minor ailments that can be triggered or exagerated due to minor misalignment of your spine.

In your case, the extent of the problem may be beyond the solution of a good Chiropractor, but I would suggest that a set of x-rays and review is well worth the trouble if there is any possibility that non-invasive correction is an option. It can get expensive, depending on your insurance coverage, but I would suggest that fusion is a final, last resort, no-going-back solution and I would want to investigate every other oportunity short of that first.

Best of luck to you, back problems are never fun.