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Spine
cervical
Cervical Spine
Cervical Spine Treatment
Neck pain that radiates, numb fingers, or a weakening grip. Send your imaging and a spine consultant will tell you what is causing it — and what the realistic options are.
Does This Sound Familiar?
- ✓Neck pain that spreads into the shoulder, arm or hand
- ✓Numbness, tingling or pins and needles in the fingers
- ✓Weakening grip — dropping cups, difficulty with buttons
- ✓Pain that wakes you at night or worsens when looking up
- ✓Unsteady walking or a change in balance
If two or more of these apply and have lasted more than six weeks, an imaging review is worth doing before you commit to any treatment.
Conditions We Assess
Commonly Reviewed
- ✓Cervical disc herniation
- ✓Cervical spondylosis
- ✓Cervical radiculopathy
Also Assessed
- ✓Cervical myelopathy
- ✓Cervical spinal stenosis
- ✓Post-traumatic neck pain
Treatment Options
Options run from conservative care through to surgery. Which one applies depends on your imaging — the review tells you where you sit on this range.
Conservative care
What it involves
Physiotherapy, medication, activity modification
Hospital stay
No admission
Typical recovery
Weeks
Image-guided nerve block
What it involves
Day procedure under imaging guidance
Hospital stay
Day case
Typical recovery
Days
Cervical disc replacement
What it involves
Motion-preserving implant, anterior approach
Hospital stay
3–5 days
Typical recovery
4–8 weeks
Cervical fusion (ACDF)
What it involves
Anterior decompression and instrumented fusion
Hospital stay
4–6 days
Typical recovery
6–12 weeks
Information on this page is general in nature and does not constitute medical advice or a diagnosis. Treatment options, recovery times and outcomes vary by individual case and are determined by your treating consultant after review of your imaging.
Indicative Package Price
All-inclusive: surgeon’s fee, anaesthesia, imported implants, consumables and hospital stay. No hidden charges.
Cervical Fusion Surgery
IMC Partner Hospital
from ¥168,000
Overseas Private
¥360,000 – 720,000
You Save
up to 60%
Overseas price ranges shown on this site are indicative, compiled from publicly available private-hospital pricing, and are provided for comparison only. Actual costs vary by hospital and by individual case. Information on this website is general in nature and does not constitute medical advice.
Who Handles This
Consultants for This Condition
How It Works
1. Enquire
Send your X-ray, CT or MRI report and describe your symptoms.
2. Specialist Review
A consultant reviews your case and returns a plan with full costs within 48 hours.
3. Insurance
We help you obtain pre-approval and prepare bilingual claim documents.
4. Treatment
Your appointment is scheduled and a coordinator follows your case throughout.
Cervical Spine — Questions We Are Asked Most
Usually not. Reports and images from accredited hospitals are reviewed directly. If a specific sequence is missing, the consultant will tell you before you travel rather than on arrival.
They suit different situations. Disc replacement preserves movement at that level and may suit single-level disease in younger patients; fusion is used where there is instability or multi-level degeneration. Your consultant will explain which applies to your imaging.
This depends on the procedure and your recovery. Your consultant gives a written estimate as part of the treatment plan, and fitness to fly is confirmed before discharge.
That is a legitimate outcome of a case review. If conservative treatment is more appropriate, you will be told so — there is no charge for the assessment either way.
Send Your Scans. Get a Specialist Opinion in 48 Hours.
Upload your X-ray, CT or MRI report and tell us where it hurts. A consultant reviews your case personally and returns a treatment plan with a full cost breakdown within two working days. The assessment is free and carries no obligation.
Overseas price ranges shown on this site are indicative, compiled from publicly available private-hospital pricing, and are provided for comparison only. Actual costs vary by hospital and by individual case. Information on this website is general in nature and does not constitute medical advice.
Free · No Obligation
Request Your Free Assessment
Tell us where it hurts and send your imaging. A consultant reviews your case personally and returns a written treatment plan with full costs within two working days.
Fastest Route
Send Your Scans on WhatsApp
X-ray, CT and MRI images can be sent straight from your phone. We reply in English, Cantonese and Mandarin.
Or email info@imcdoctor.com
Your details stay private
Medical information you send is used only to prepare your assessment. It is never shared with third parties.
Overseas price ranges shown on this site are indicative, compiled from publicly available private-hospital pricing, and are provided for comparison only. Actual costs vary by hospital and by individual case. Information on this website is general in nature and does not constitute medical advice.
Spine
Neck and Back Pain: What the Imaging Actually Shows
Almost every adult MRI shows disc changes. The question is never whether something is visible — it is whether what is visible explains your symptoms, and whether an operation would change them.
Free written review · No obligation · Reply within 48 hours
48-Hour Specialist Review
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Transparent Medical Costs
Symptom Check
Do these sound familiar?
None of this is a diagnosis. It is a way of deciding whether it is worth sending your imaging for a specialist to read.
- Pain radiating into an arm or down a leg, past the knee or elbow
- Numbness, pins and needles, or a patch of skin that feels different
- Weakness — a foot that catches, a grip that has become unreliable
- Walking distance limited by leg pain that eases when you sit or lean forward
- Neck pain with headaches at the base of the skull
- Symptoms that have changed pattern in the last few weeks
Seek care locally, not remotely
New bladder or bowel changes, numbness around the saddle area, or rapidly progressing weakness are emergency symptoms. Seek immediate care locally — do not wait for a remote review.
What It Might Be
Common Diagnoses and What Is Usually Considered
Common diagnoses
Lumbar Disc Herniation
Disc material pressing on a nerve root, causing sciatica. A large proportion settle without surgery over 6–12 weeks; the imaging alone does not decide it.
Lumbar Spinal Stenosis
Narrowing of the canal, typically in older patients. The hallmark is leg pain on walking that eases on sitting or leaning forward.
Cervical Disc Herniation / Myelopathy
Nerve root compression causes arm pain; cord compression causes clumsiness, balance change and grip problems. The second is treated more urgently than the first.
Spondylolisthesis
One vertebra slipped on another. Standing flexion–extension X-rays show whether the slip moves — an MRI taken lying down can miss this entirely.
Degenerative Disc Disease
Age-related disc change. Extremely common on imaging and frequently not the source of the pain.
Facet Joint Arthropathy
Arthritis of the small joints at the back of the spine. Usually managed non-operatively.
Treatment options
Listed as clinical facts. Whether any option applies to you is decided case by case on your imaging and history — no outcome is promised here.
| Option | Typically considered when | Inpatient stay & early recovery |
|---|---|---|
| Structured physiotherapy and medication | First line for most disc herniation and mechanical back pain | No admission. Reassessed at 6–12 weeks |
| Nerve root block / epidural injection | Diagnostic (which level is responsible) and therapeutic | Day case or 1 night. Effect duration varies |
| Microdiscectomy | Persistent radicular pain with matching imaging, after non-operative care has been given a fair trial | 2–4 nights. Sitting and walking usually from day 1 |
| Decompression / laminectomy | Stenosis with walking distance meaningfully limited | 3–5 nights. Walking programme begins in hospital |
| Cervical disc replacement | Single-level cervical disc disease with preserved alignment and no significant facet arthritis | 2–3 nights. Aims to preserve motion at that level |
| Instrumented fusion | Instability, deformity, or slip that moves on flexion–extension films | 6–8 nights. Post-operative imaging before discharge |
What to Send
The Imaging a Consultant Actually Needs
Sending the right films the first time is the difference between a 48-hour answer and a two-week round trip of requests.
- The imaging report and the images themselves — PDF, JPG or DICOM
- A short history: when it started, what makes it worse, what you have already tried
- Any previous operation notes for the same joint or region
- Current medication, and any other medical conditions
- Your age, and what you need to get back to doing
Not sure what you have?
Send what you have. The coordinator checks whether anything essential is missing and tells you exactly what to ask your local hospital for — including the specific views.
Cost
Indicative Package Ranges for This Area
| Treatment Option | Estimated Cost Range |
|---|---|
| Lumbar Fusion (single level) | USD 12,000 – 19,000 |
| Microdiscectomy (single level) | USD 5,400 – 9,200 |
| Cervical Disc Replacement (single level) | USD 11,500 – 17,500 |
Indicative package estimates compiled from publicly available partner-hospital price lists as of August 2026. Provided for comparison only — not a quotation. Your final figure depends on imaging findings, implant selection, other medical conditions and length of stay, and is confirmed in writing before admission.
Get a figure for your own case
Send your report and we return an itemised estimate for the options a consultant identifies — at no charge.
Who Reviews This
Consultants Who Take Spine Cases
Send the report even if you are unsure which subspecialty applies — routing it correctly is the coordinator’s job, not yours.
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FAQ
Spine — Questions Patients Ask
On its own, usually not. Disc degeneration appears on the majority of adult scans, including in people with no pain at all. What matters is whether a specific finding lines up with a specific symptom pattern on examination. A report full of findings and a clear clinical picture are two different things.
Fusion is indicated for instability, deformity, or a slip that moves — not for disc degeneration by itself. If the imaging does not support fusion, the written review will say so and set out what does apply. A recommendation against fusion is a normal outcome here.
MRI is essential. For any suspected slip or instability, standing X-rays with flexion and extension views are also needed — an MRI is taken lying down and can miss movement entirely. CT is added where bone detail or previous instrumentation matters.
For most disc herniation with leg pain and no weakness, there is time — many settle with non-operative care. Progressive weakness, or cord compression in the neck, is treated with more urgency. The review states which category your case falls into and why.
Yes, substantially. Previous operation notes, the implants used and any post-operative imaging change both the assessment and the options. Send them with your scans — a revision case assessed without the original notes is an assessment made half blind.
Ask about your own case
Attach your imaging report on WhatsApp. A coordinator confirms receipt the same working day and tells you if anything is missing.
Other Areas
Not the Right Page?
Knee
Osteoarthritis, meniscus tears, ligament injury and assessment for partial or total knee replacement.
Hip
Hip osteoarthritis, avascular necrosis, femoroacetabular impingement and hip replacement assessment.
Shoulder
Rotator cuff tears, frozen shoulder, recurrent instability and arthroscopic repair options.
Have a Consultant Read Your Spine Imaging
Send your report today. A specialist review costs you nothing and carries no obligation to proceed.
English · 廣東話 · 普通話 | Replies Mon–Sat, 09:00–19:00 HKT
Medical Assessment
Submit Your Medical Assessment
Send your imaging and a short history. A consultant in the relevant subspecialty reviews it and you receive a written summary of the options identified — normally within 48 hours.
Prefer to message us?
WhatsApp is the fastest route. You can send photos of your report directly in the chat, in English, 廣東話 or 普通話.
Before you send
Tick what you already have. The message will list it for you — a complete first message is what makes a 48-hour turnaround possible.
Nothing is stored by this checklist. It only builds the text of your first message.
Your files are used only to arrange a specialist review and are not published anywhere.
Medical Disclaimer
The information on this website is provided for general reference and does not constitute a diagnosis, a treatment recommendation, or medical advice. It is not a substitute for consultation with a qualified physician, and no doctor–patient relationship is created by using this site or by submitting an assessment form. Treatment options, recovery times and outcomes vary between individuals and depend on clinical findings. IMC coordinates access to independent hospitals and their medical staff; the treating hospital and physician remain responsible for clinical decisions and care. If you are experiencing severe pain, loss of function, numbness or any emergency symptom, seek immediate care locally.
IMC arranges medical assessment, specialist appointments and treatment coordination only. IMC does not arrange flights, accommodation, visas or any other non-medical itinerary.