Help for Neck Pain

[GUNNER]

CHICAGO (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- One out of two of us will suffer neck pain at some point in our lives. In some cases, it's the result of a pinched nerve, and surgery is required. And while that surgery is successful, the recovery can be tough. But a new procedure is being studied that could change that.

Dennis Kistulinec had a herniated disc in his neck. For almost a year, he lived in pain. "Let alone trying to work a labor *** ... just your regular way of life's affected -- trying to carry groceries in, or you can't pick up your kids," he says.

Now, just two months after undergoing a new surgical procedure, Kistulinec is not only back to work, he's back lifting weights. "I feel five years younger," he says. "No pain. No stiffness. No soreness."

Orthopedic surgeon Frank Phillips, M.D., is performing the procedure as part of a clinical trial to test a new artificial cervical disc. Instead of removing the damaged disc, inserting bone into that space and fusing it to the vertebrae, Dr. Phillips, Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, implants an artificial disc made of the same metal and plastics used in hip and knee replacements. Benefits of the new procedure include greater neck movement and a much shorter recovery time.

"Patients, in my experience, have done very well. Typically, the arm pain, the numbness, the weakness, the pinched nerve symptoms, tend to get better quickly or almost immediately after surgery," Dr. Phillips tells Ivanhoe. He also says the new disc will likely reduce the need for more surgeries down the road.

Kistulinec hopes that's true for him because he'd rather spend his time in the weight room, not the operating room.

Recovery with the standard procedure typically takes up to nine months. Dr. Phillips says it will likely be about three years before this procedure is approved by the FDA. Right now, the only way you can undergo the procedure is at one of 20 medical centers across the country participating in the trial.