PHOENIX - If you suffer from chronic neck pain, doctors say you may want to consider Botox.
Shelly Sheldahl has been active all her life, but she’s also had pain in her neck for as long as she can remember.
“I remember being on swim team in high school and I would get out of the pool and I would need to go to the chiropractor," she said.
But seeing the chiropractor only helped for hours, maybe sometimes a few days. The pain was so excruciating that Sheldahl took a break from playing any sports for about five months.
“Everybody’s out doing these things, you get all these invites, gosh I just can’t go, because it’s just not worth it, it’s not worth this being aggravated, and causing pain throughout the week and then I can’t do my job," she said.
Finally, she discovered Botox could help. She saw Dr. Jerome Julian Grove of Pain Consultants of Arizona.
“We use it for pain because it decreases or eliminates the muscle spasm coming from the nerve or blocks the neuro-muscular junction,” said Grove.
The result was felt instantly.
“You can feel the Botox coming in, and I got immediately relief, within hours. It just relaxes everything,” said Sheldahl.
She is now back to doing the physical activities she loves. More importantly, she’s pain free, something she never thought she’d experience.
“I'm literally as active as I've ever been, if not more, and it's just fun," she said. "Every day you wake up and you just don't have to think about it. It's just a breath of fresh air, it really is.”
Grove says the effects generally last between three and six months.