Medical disclaimer
Everything on this website is general information about the cervical spine. It cannot tell you what is happening in your own neck, and it is not a substitute for assessment by your GP or a specialist.
IF IT IS URGENT
Do not use this website for an emergency
Seek emergency care
Sudden or rapidly worsening weakness in your arms or legs, new clumsiness or unsteadiness affecting both hands, a decline in walking, or any loss of bladder or bowel control can signal pressure on the spinal cord. Do not wait for a website reply or a scheduled appointment: call 000 or go to your nearest emergency department.
GENERAL INFORMATION ONLY
What this website is, and is not
The information on this website is an educational resource. It describes cervical spine conditions, investigations and operations in general terms, for people trying to understand a problem they have been told they have.
It is not a medical consultation, it is not advice about your own case, and it is not designed to replace a doctor's independent judgement about whether a particular investigation or procedure is appropriate for a particular patient.
Reading a page here is not a substitute for being examined. Several of the findings that matter most in the cervical spine, including the signs of pressure on the spinal cord, are found on physical examination rather than on a scan or in a description.
No doctor and patient relationship
Using this website, reading its pages or sending an enquiry through it does not create a doctor and patient relationship. That begins at a consultation.
Email and web forms
Information sent through a web form or by email should not be relied upon as a medical consultation, and no clinical advice is given by those channels. If your question needs a clinical answer, it needs an appointment.
ABOUT THE FIGURES
How to read the numbers on this site
Where this site quotes rates, timeframes or outcomes, they come from one of two places, and each page says which.
Published research, cited in the references section of the relevant page. These describe groups of patients, sometimes very large groups, and they cannot predict what will happen to any individual. A figure of ten per cent is not a statement about you.
The practice's own published guidance, for example the length of stay after a particular operation, or the period for which driving is restricted. These are guidance rather than commitments, and they depend on the operation performed and on how your recovery progresses.
Where the practice does not publish a figure for something, this site does not supply one. Instructions given to you directly, before and after an operation, take precedence over anything written here.
Currency of information
Medical evidence changes. Pages are written from the sources cited on them at the time of writing, and neither the research nor clinical practice stands still. If a page and your treating doctor disagree, follow your treating doctor.
OTHER SITES
Links to third parties
This website links to hospitals, professional bodies, government services and published research. Those sites are created and maintained by other public and private organisations, and their accuracy, relevance, currency and completeness are not controlled or guaranteed here.
A link is not an endorsement of everything on the site it points to, and it does not extend this disclaimer to cover that site's content.
Not a recommendation of any treatment
Descriptions of medications, injections, physiotherapy or surgical procedures on this site are explanatory. They are not a recommendation that you have, or avoid, any of them. Those decisions belong to you and the doctor treating you.
If you want an answer about your own neck, that takes an appointment.
A consultation will tell you what is causing your symptoms, whether anything needs treating, and what the options are. A GP or specialist referral is needed for a Medicare rebate.