I am a fan of Little People Big World. I am always amazed and impressed with what the Roloff family has accomplished. On a recent episode Matt (father) and Jeremy (older son) went on a skiing trip, much to their mother Amy’s dismay. Matt has recently been experiencing a lot of neck pain, shoulder pain and numbness into his left arm.
Matt Roloff is a little person or dwarf and has had some spinal and spine related issues in the past. Matt’s type of dwarfism is called diastrophic dysplasia.
Over the years, I am sure he has built up a certain amount of degeneration in his spine. According to a cervical mri that he had recently, his Doctor mentioned that he has disc degeneration between two levels: C2-C3 and C3-C4. There was also multiple levels of degeneration in the cervical spine (aka spondylosis). Matt has also been experiencing neurological symptoms associated with this degeneration in his spine: numbness and tingling into his left arm, shoulder pain, neck pain, weakness in his upper extremity.
The Doctor also mentioned that he will need spinal surgery in about 6 months. In the mean time Matt is using some home traction– specifically overhead neck traction which he demonstrated during the episode.
A medieval looking device that stretches out the neck longitudinally creating a space between the bones, thus taking pressure off of nerves. This type of traction unit can help, but for some patients, it places a lot of pressure on one’s jaw. There are other types of neck traction that are more effective and much more comfortable such as the pronex pneumatic cervical traction system. Traction systems help improve the neck curvature which takes pressure off off of the nerves.
Regardless, this neck traction that Matt is doing should help give some relief. He also goes skiing with his son Jeremy, which I wouldn’t recommend someone with his neck condition do too much of. On the other hand they looked like they had a lot of fun and sometimes things like this help take your mind off the pain.
WikiPedia on Little People Big World
Source: TLC’s Little People Big World Episode
Additional Reading Resources:
- True Neck Traction – The Right Kind Of Neck Traction For Long Term Pain Relief
- The Pronex Pneumatic Cervical Traction Unit
- How to Use the Traction Side of the Cervical Linear Traction Neck Pillow for maximum pain relief and the better sleep
- Neck Pain resulting from a C5, C6, C7, or C8 Radiculopathy
- Understanding Your Disc Problem Like A Jelly Donut
- Severe Neck Pain with Numbess and Tingling– all from a Herniated Disc?
Visit the Arc 4 Life: Your pain relief Source for Cervical traction Systems
Have you tried the air cervical traction device before?
There are many different types of neck traction available in today’s market. I have found that using traction units such as the pronex pneumatic traction unit give patients the best results for stretching of the cervical spine. Always check with your Dr to make sure you are a candidate for neck traction.
Pronex Pneumatic Neck Traction Unit
http://www.neckpainreliefkit.com/product/PronexTractionCervical
-NJ
http://www.neckpainsupport.com
Nice video. Nice sharing of real experiences here. Thanks for sharing informative links along with the article.
Keep posting more and do stay in touch..
In comparison to big procedures, these procedures lead to less injury and minimal blood loss for the patient. As a result, minimally-invasive spinal operations are becoming more and more efficient with the many modern techniques experiencing a remarkable surge. Laser back surgery is technically termed as Minimally Invasive or Laser Endoscopic or simply Laser Spine Surgery.
Good Video and Good Post too. Same case happened with my Uncle too. He was got injured in road accident and after a long operation doctor have declared that he is dead.
Back surgery fails 74 percent of the time and yet insurers still cover the procedures and patients still line up for them hoping for a quick fix. What they too often end up with is a problem that is much worse. Failed back surgery syndrome is “characterized by intractable pain and varying degrees of functional incapacitation occurring after spine surgery”. Where is the logic?