And, I had a herniated cervical disc, C5. The one just above the big bump on your neck. I put up with pain, numbness, severe muscle spasms, etc for years longer than I should have. When I finally started having such bad numbness that I was trying to drop the fiddle or bow, I saw a Neuro surgeon.
The chiropractic had sorta kept it at bay for years, but not fixed it. The hernia was bad....and yes, I got 3 opinons. All said, surgery. So I did.
It is called a laminectomy; basically they just go in and nip off the protruding part of the disc. Out patient surgery. In and out in 4 hours. NO troble from the surgery. I went fabric shopping after I got out of the surgery center.
The ONLY problem I had was that I turned out to be allergic to the absorble suture material they used, and so got an infection in the incision. If my Husband had been able to recognize infection, I'd have been fine much sooner. As it is, I have a pretty deep, ugly scar on the back of my neck just above the t shirt line. Doesn't bother ME, I can't see it. But it itches sometimes.