Do people know you can now get articial cervical disc replacement rather than fusion, and insurance now pays for it. It is better to do than a fusion. One of the doctors I just consulted with for my lumbar spine is one of the doctors in this country in Chicago who does this. You end up with an artifical disc so that you can still move your neck well, and they can do multiple levels. Then there is not the problems with discs above and below the fusion of starting to bulge over time. I wish I had been able to have this when I had my c4-c5 fusion. I have a cadavar bone where the disc was and a plate and pins put in fromt he front. It helped a lot as my spinal cord was being pushed on, and I was losing the ability to use my left arm. I have some arthritis now where the nerve comes out at C4 and had a shot that helped some. Eventually something will have to be done to open the hole so the nerve is not being pinched.

You can also get artifical disc replacement for lumbar spine too, but this is not yet approved by the insurance companies. I wish it was as I need surgery on lumbar area L1 and L2 and likely L3 and L4. I can barely walk as I am in a lot of pain, and now the right leg goes totally numb for a time and feels like a dead log. Now the left leg starts too. I have to do something before I end up paralyzed from the waist down. I was told this could happen.