A herniated cervical disc is not widespread unlike the herniated lumbar disc that is because there is not much disc material found in the cervical spine and because there is not much force applied along the cervical spine unlike the lumbar part of the spine. However a cervical herniated disc can be very damaging and hard to treat.
In most instances a cervical disc stick out on the side of the route of the spine thus intrude upon the nerve root and if the nerve root space is affected due to bone spurs or the disc space collapse then this would sure inflame the root of the nerve hence resulting to arm pain. If the nerve root is not affected then the pain in the arm might just be temporary and may be easily relieved by traditional treatment found in your drugstore or pharmacy.
A herniated disc normally needs basic conservative treatments like physical therapy and a lot of rest, over the counter medication and of course if all means have been exhausted then surgery is your last option. If pain persists for more than two weeks then steroids should be given to fight against the symptoms. For extreme pain one can take oral sedative but only for a few days or two weeks the most but all this should be carefully be regulated and monitored by your doctor.
If pain still persists then the following traditional treatment should be taken;
Physical Therapy. Exercise or physical therapy to relieve pain works for most people. This in fact is the safest way of treating cervical herniated disc. Equipments like manual tractions help open the foramen. Chiropractic treatments also aid in easing pressure on the root of the nerves.
Epidural Injection. It pain persists even after physical treatments like therapies then epidural injections have to be considered. Most cases of pain from cervical herniated disc can be easily relieved but there are some cases where it is so severe that you need more than one epidural injection. If the initial injection fails then more injections will be administered every two weeks for up to a period of three months. If both physical and medical treatments still fail then surgery is your last option.
Surgery. A CT scan or MRI is a good tool to determine the severity of the cervical herniated disc. This is where you will know whether surgery is your only option. There are actually two kinds of surgery involve here and they are Anterior surgery which exposed the foramen to add more gap to the nerve root. Another kind is the Posterior surgery, this will work well with enlarged disc found in the side of the nerve canal. Both of this type works effectively for most patients but be sure to take heed of your doctor’s advice before undergoing the surgery.