My first surgery was ACDF (anterior cervical decompression & fusion). That was not enough to relieve the compression of my spinal cord, so they went back in through the rear and did a posterior decompression. The posterior decompression involves cutting out the lamina, which are the rear sections of the spine (the bones you can see bulging out on your neck). When this is done, it leaves much more room for the spinal cord. Unfortunately, when the space got bigger, the spinal cord shifted backwards into the center of the newly opened space and caused the nerve roots to get stretched.