ABSTRACT
Neck pain is a common complaint among the general population in the United States. 1 , 2 Reports show that 35 to 40% of individuals will suffer from neck and arm pain and 30% may develop chronic pain symptoms. Of 100,000 people, there are 83.2 cases per year that demonstrate cervical radiculopathy, 3 and 38.4 cases per 100,000 who display definite radiculopathy proven to be due to disc prolapse. 4 In spite of attempts to use rational selection algorithms to choose the methods to diagnose the source of cervical pain, discussion in the literature continues concerning the selection and value of procedures because no one modality can provide the information required in every case. Complementary procedures are used to acquire the fullest picture of pathology. Techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT) scanning, and myelography provide detailed resolution of abnormal anatomy. The images, however accurate, do not report a particular lesion as the cause or source of symptoms. 5 Correlation of reported symptoms with information obtained in imaging may not be sufficiently reliable to unequivocally determine the location or degree that symptoms and pathology coincide. 6–9
