Successful treatment of unilateral neck pain with transforaminal epidural steroid injection on the left C3 nerve root: a case report

In clinical practice, neck pain is one of the most common complaints. Although most of the cervical radicular pain is manifested in the neck and upper extremities, C3 or C4 radicular pain only results in neck pain. It does not produce upper extremity radiating pain. This case report describes a 70-year-old male that presented with a numeric rating scale score of 5 out of 10 for the left neck pain that he had been experiencing for the previous 1 month. Hyperalgesia was present on the left C3 dermatome. Foraminal stenosis at the left C2-C3 was observed on cervical magnetic resonance imaging. In order to manage the neck pain on the left side due to the foraminal stenosis at the left C2-C3, a transforaminal epidural steroid injection (TFESI) was undertaken on the left C3 nerve root. Thirty minutes after TFESI, the patient's neck pain had completely resolved. At the 1-month and 3-month follow-ups, no neck pain was evident. Clinicians should consider the possibility of C3 radicular pain as a cause of neck pain, especially when the neck pain presents as neuropathic pain combined with sensory deficits.