One of the reasons is that your breathing is controlled by the spinal cord
in this area and a severe injury to the spinal cord
in this area, would result
in paralysis from the neck down. I am not in any way saying that this might happen to you, I simply want to impress upon you the seriousness of the location of your injury.
You mentioned hand and arm numbness. Disc C5-C6 controls your forearem, biceps and your thumb and fore finger.