Hi, Tom.

I'm sorry I'm getting back to you a couple of days later than I had promised. I thought of a better idea than to cut & paste pictures/captions of exercises. I did a youtube search and found these videos which are wonderful. In fact, I am going to make a handout with these links to give to my neck patients. He basically explains everything very well and uses all the techniques/educational components that I use every day.

I'm not sure of his credentials, but it sounds like he is a physical therapist. He is explaining The McKenzie Method, which is highly effective in treating spinal problems. It's especially helpful in that it teaches the patient how to treat themselves, which is exactly what we need to do to keep pain at bay for a lifetime. Even though he is talking about herniated disks/pinched nerves, etc., don't get hung up on the diagnoses. The techniques should work for you if you do them as prescribed. If they don't, please let me know ASAP. This works on the vast majority of patients, but remember that you had major surgery to the soft tissues around your spine and spinal nerves. You have to be VERY GENTLE! Your body needs to form scar tissue and let the tissues heal/sutures to hold, etc. Early mobilization/stretching is good, with caution. Discomfort (mild) with the stretching/range of motion is expected, but pain is a signal to stop. I would advise you to keep icing as well. Ten to fifteen minutes every couple of hours as needed. You have to let the blood flow back into the area for nutrition/oxygenation, so if you keep ice on it constantly, you will deprive the tissues of these things. Also, if the ice pack becomes room temp or warm, you are actually now heating the swollen area by keeping it on too long, which you don't want to do in the case of swelling.

Enough of my blabbing. Here are the youtube links. If they don't work for you for any reason, either technical or by your learning style, let me know and I will make adjustments. He has about 36 videos in his series. I tried to put them in an order that made sense. Let me know how it goes. Best of luck and I'd be more than happy to answer any questions!

Be well,
Kerri

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9lp...p;list=ULwQ8Rz5uHoA4&lf=mfu_in_order (Step 1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQes...p;list=ULZ9lpe4a0a3c&lf=mfu_in_order (Step 2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQ8R...p;list=ULZQes2ijwcKY&lf=mfu_in_order (Step 3)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMuJ...p;list=ULwQ8Rz5uHoA4&lf=mfu_in_order (Step 4)

37 y/o fem at Dx (23 wks preg @ dx on 3/16/11)
SCC L oral tongue (no risk factors)
L partial gloss/MND 3/28/11 @ 25 wks preg
T1-2N0M0; no rads/chemo
Tonsillectomy on 8/6/12 +SCC L tonsil T2-3N1M0 (HPV-)
Treated with 35 rads/7 carbo & taxol (Rx ended 10/31/12), but many hospitalizations d/t complications from rx.
Various scans since rx ended are NED!
Part of genetic study for rare cancers @ MGH.
44 years old now...I wasn't sure I would make it! Hoping for 40 more!