He loves the outdoors – from skiing to water sports - and looking at Thom Cannon, you would have never guessed that he just had major neck surgery.

"I just assumed I was getting old, I was 47 and what had happened is I had displaced a C6 vertebra in my neck. Of course, I didn’t know that until 2 weeks later,” explains Cannon.

Thom had fallen flat on his back while on vacation, but admits he didn’t feel any pain and hopped back up. It wasn’t until a few hours later that he realized something was wrong. “I didn’t have any headaches, I had actually no pain in my neck area, I didn’t feel any of that. It started from my right shoulder and went to my hand.”

Dr. Jeffrey Henn is a neurosurgeon with Lee Memorial Health System. He says that’s not unusual. “You can sometimes have patients that present their pains in other parts of the body, just because they are trying to kind of protect that part of the body.”

Dr. Henn adds each case is different and sometimes pain associated with neck injuries doesn’t always require surgery. “Conservative management can involve lots of different things, that can include physical therapy, things like injections, chiropractor, acupuncture, etc.” But in Thom’s case, surgery and physical therapy were needed.

Saturday, we take a closer look at his recovery process and how physical therapy may be just the thing you need to help you relieve your everyday aches and pains.