Hi Joce,
I can very much relate to your muscle pain that you’re experiencing after your ACDF surgery. I live in Marietta, Georgia and I had two severely herniated discs in my neck, with almost two years of trying everything to relieve pain – I had 5 steroid injections done and had a ton of physical therapy and chiropractor work done, which nothing helped to reduce the constant pain I was in, that shot down my left arm and into my left fingers, from nerves being pinched in my neck. I was really miserable from this pain too, for almost two full years. So I finally had to have a two-level ACDF surgery done on August 22, 2011 (discs C-5/6 and C-6/7 were removed and the vertebrae fused, using material from a combination of my own bone shavings and bone donated from a bone bank). When I woke up after about 2 1/2 hours in surgery, that constant pain, shooting down my left arm and left fingers was GONE! I was so relieved; however my shoulders, shoulder blades and neck were killing me! It was as if my muscles in my neck, shoulders and in-between my shoulder blades were pulling and were stretched so much. I stayed overnight in the hospital and then had 6 to 8 weeks to recover at home, with my surgeon and his assistant saying to me to give it time for my muscles to “get used to” the new spacing between my vertebrae, because before the surgery, my two discs that were removed had been much narrower, when compared to the other discs, so the new spacers inserted between the vertebrae during surgery, were taller than the original discs. I was also instructed by my surgeon's assistant to wear a hard plastic neck brace (which I purchased myself for $175.00) for the entire recovery time (6-8 weeks, which I wore this brace for 8 full weeks to be on the safest side and to follow doctor's orders). I was also told to not drive at all, no lifting and primarily to do nothing that could aggravate the bone fusion, allowing the bone transplants to grow between the vertebrae in my neck. So I was more than cautious for the entire 8 weeks recovery that I went through. I was also taking Oxycodone four times daily to relieve the severe muscle pain in my shoulders and neck. I slowly came off the pain meds around the 6th week. I also had to go on a muscle relaxer medication called “Cyclobenzaprine” – 10mg. This helped a bit, but the medication made me really groggy the next day (I would take this at night before bed). I returned to work 8 weeks after surgery (returning part-time for 2 weeks). I also had an ergonomic assessment done at work, a few weeks following my return, which the assessment recommended to replace my office chair, install a keyboard tray and install a monitor arm, to help better support my neck and relieve my shoulder muscles. This happened about four weeks following the assessment and I'm now getting some relief as a result of the new office equipment. However, I'm still having quite a lot of muscle pain in my shoulders, in-between my shoulder blades and in my neck, which I never experienced before having the surgery done in August. So I can totally relate to your muscle pain that you're felling, because I'm having the same pain as a result of the ACDF surgery. I'm also now in physical therapy and have been getting deep muscle electric pulse massages, twice a week. Also, based on my physical therapist’s advice, I’ve started muscle needle therapy, where my physical therapist injects needles into several trigger points I have in my neck and shoulders, trying to "break up" and dissolve these trigger points. It's a painful therapy, and so far I'm not really feeling significant improvements as a result, but I'm told to give this time, so I’ll keep at it. So, that's where I'm at after five months since the two-level ACDF surgery. I’ve definitely had significant relief from that constant pinched nerve pain, shooting down my left arm and into my left finders, however, since this surgery, I continue to deal with constant muscle pain in my shoulders, neck and between my shoulder blades, which I'm hoping PT will give me relief. I wish you the very best and really hope your muscle pain will subside through continued PT and other exercises, like I hope it will for me. God bless you.