A week ago I saw in this thread the posting from Linda. after joining I saw the others. I had anterior cervical discetomy C4-C5 & C5-C6 with fusion. When I woke up from surgery I could not move either shoulder. I have some function from the elbows down but zero at the shoulders that will help in my daily life. 3 almost 4 weeks out of surgery where I was told and I quote "the national average for ccomplications is 1% but mine is 0%" and no discussion at all that this could happen I have had to fight for services. I was released to home with no visiting nurses lined up, I had to fight with the surgeon to even get therapy and now he is saying well it could take a year or more to fix! I have leave from my jobs til March 25th so needless to say with no income coming in I need to get better quick. I have contacted a lawyer due to the lack of concern on the doctors part. I was up front with him that I had suffered the pain getting worse over 16 yrs, that I knew about the disc degeneration I had, that I had had steroid shots over the years that obviously havent worked etc. The least he could have done was be up front with me but obviously he was nat expecting this complication and in fact has tried to say that I must have been weak before the surgery. Grrrrr. I have started OT and need to get to the point where I can dress myself and drive so that I can go out of home for more aggressive therapy. It is crucial that I regain the use of my arms because my job requires me to be physical. Heres to getting better.

Haley - Yours seems to be the same as mine was (bilateral palsy). Its pretty scary not being able to use your arms. I stayed in the hospital for 3 weeks for therapy, but it did not help much. I was discharged with very little assistance or guidance on how to do the basic things like take a shower. My left arm came back after about 2 months, but the right arm is still useless (some minor improvements). Hopefully, you get one arm back quickly also. I did go through OT, but I found it to be pretty useless. I had better luck finding ways to do things on my own. Your mind gets very creative when faced with challenges like this. You will get very frustrated, but keep up the fight. Keep telling yourself that it will get better (it will). Good luck. Keep us posted.

I underwent anterior cervical fusion c4-5, after day 3 post op, stsrted to notice a weak feeling in my left arm. I calked the MD office and was told to go to the emergency room if I felt I was having an emergency. It was just a mild weak feeling, so of course, I didnt go. Over the course of a few days, I lost the ability to lift my arm. Called the MD with the same results, go to the ER.
I did not feel it to be an emergency situation, however, I wanted some answers.
I went to the ER, had a Ct scan of my neck and brain, and Mri of my beck. My surgeon came to see me and said everything looks fine, all the hardware is where it is supposed to be, I think you have nerve palsy and left.
Over the next several days, not only was I having paralysis, I started having excrutiating pain in my arm and shoulder.
I still havent received an explanation from the physician, and have started trying to research this myself.
I am now 4 weeks postop with no relief of the pain, and no improvement in function. I started using a tens unit on my own, have not been referred for therapy.
Its very frustrating and depressing.

I am almost 3 months out of surgery for C5 palsy bright am I can barely use left-arm very weak I keep hearing I'm going to start seeing improvements but as of yet I see none the recently started having more neck pain and numbness. I know I'm having twitches in my spine from my surgery done to middle of my back I'm just wondering if this is common.

Hi all

I wanted to share my experience thus far as information on C5 palsy seems scarce and what IS out there contain various prognosis and outcomes.
I've read many stories on this horrible dilema, some uplifting and some make me feel quite fortunate I'm at where I am.

I had a posterior laminectomy at C5-C6 Oct. 2016 to remedy extreme spinal cord compression which was stealing my leg function as well as effecting both arms in very negative ways(numbness, coordination, strength)...
I would lose touch with my feet as if they were'nt even there.
Could move them if I thought about it but it was as they if they didn't exist, especially when driving...SCARY!

Any ways, after surgery that night in bed and unbelievable pain, I experienced just ripping, burning, unbearable type pain across my left shoulder.
Long story short, next day my left deltoids were completely dead as was a portion of my bicep and also the radial muscle that runs from your bicep across the top of the forearm and into the wrist...

My neurosurgeon sent me immediately for another MRI to be sure there were no problems with the fusion or hardware shift (rods and screws) and the MRI looked GREAT, spinal cord completely decompressed was the good news, most likely severe tethering of the nerve root, bad news and causing what he explained to me as being something called C5 Palsy...

Without getting too windy here I just want to quickly sum up how things progressed and hopefully this will lift some you out theres spirits.

MONTH 1: Pure hell, just the horrible pain one would expect from a posterior approach to the spine, a place my NS said God did not want us to be .
Around day 30, pain was starting to get less with plenty of Norco but the left arm and deltoids were useless mostly. Could not hold a dinner plate, a pot of coffee. Couldnt even throw the blankets off my body without the other arm. Had to get creative to learn to pull up my pants. Putting a tee shirt on was a joke. I feel for some of you out there. I've read your stories, I at least had a fairly healthy right arm with all the normal pains, numbness, tingle of course, but functional.
C5 palsy is not just physically debilitating, but emotionally devastating.
I was soo depressed...
I'm a 55 year old in good shape, 180lb, 5-10, and work on an underground crew which demands strength and agility...I felt like this was all gone and I was doomed.

MONTH 2: Pain was still present and getting out of bed was a little easier.
BIZZARO! So I was sitting on the couch watching a movie with my girlfriend and BTW my savior as she has helped me so much!...and out of the blue I got this painful JOLT shoot across my left shoulder. Much like the first night after surgery. Something felt different though, I looked at my girl and said "Babe, something weird just happened"...So I stood up and started moving things around a little to see if there were any changes. Just like they say, there will be some spontaneous resolve at times. It dawned on me that my forward deltoid was firing. I could lift my arm so much easier, not without lots of drag mind you as the rear deltoid was still dead, but I realized later that night as well as in the morning that putting a tee shirt on and off became almost effortless.
I want t mention that at this point I started a physical therapy program (very light) just to keep the range of motion going...VERY IMPORTANT
I got a little cocky even at the end of month 2 and thought I could chop a little firewood as it was December now...MISTAKE...I was so worried that I may have fouled up my fusion due to pain and what not...
IMPORTANT: Take it all real easy, lots of rest, physical therapy and patience.
PS...a little Norco and an occasional beer didn't hurt either!

MONTH 3: So January 2017 came...Happy New Year!
Still doing physical therapy, BTW this was all done at home after an initial visit to a PT guy and had some direction.
I've been pushing some light weights as my NS has given me the go ahead to push 30 lbs as my last xray looked good regarding fusion.
My left arm is still very weak and deltoid in the rear is not firing.
I must say though, that I've been experiencing alot of nerve burners on my left shoulder deltoid area and alot of muscle spasm at the failing bicep and forearm...I'm convinced that this is nerve regeneration going on as its a very slow process and even slower depending on how bad your initial nerve damage may of been during surgery. Why do I say this?

Today is Feb. 2017...Over the last week I have had the following improvement
Three weeks ago I could only curl a 1lb weight with my left arm due to the forearm and bicep failure...today, for the first time I curled a 5lb bar, 3 sets, 10 reps. I look at my forearm and can actually SEE the muscle flexing where there were was nothing a week ago. Its firing, but weak. More PT!!!
Its like they say, spontaneous resolve can happen...
Today during my PT session, I could feel ease in lifting with the rear deltoid;
I think its slowly coming back now as well...my NS told me that MOST C5 palsy cases will resolve within 3-6 months...
All I can say to everyone is stay positive, do any physical therapy you can, and believe that will get better because it can...

I'm going to keep working on strength now and will go back to work April 4th on a months light duty to start...I'll stay in touch...any feedback, questions from you all experiencing this what I call, "streak of bad luck" will be answered if you'd like....Take care all for now...Tim

Tim,

It's great to hear you are getting such good results in your recovery. Your case seems to be following the 6 month recovery timeline. From what you have told us, it looks like you are headed to a full recovery.

It's good to see more posts here, so others can see that full recovery is possible. Keep up the fight! Good luck.

October 22/2017/
I too developed C5 Palsy after anterior C4-5, C5-6 fusion Sept. 5th. 2017. Arm was fine before surgery, now left upper arm and deltoid is paralyzed.
Never was told this could happen. NS said arm would be 3-4 weeks before able to use again. It will be much longer than that. I am so thankful for people who tell their story to the public that this also happened to them.
It has been month and half since surgery and I am in PT 3x week.
My left upper arm has improved slightly, by that I mean, I can lift it slightly from my body. Not able to raise arm yet independently. Working very hard to regain strength in shoulder and deltoid. PT jut told me it will be another couple of months before full use of my arm. Arm still very weak, but better then right after surgery.
Thank you for giving me hope this will get better. Will just take a lot of time.
Will write again. Barbara

Im 3 months into C5 PALSY, my story sounded similar to Tim's. starting with no movement in my right shoulder and arm I now have full range of motion but my rear deltoid is still not firing at all, and still have some weakness in my bicep. My question for any of you is do you have a tightness where you have the palsy? My shoulder feels like its held down by rubber bands that always wants to force it back to its resting position. My arm after I lift 5 pounds 10 times feels like i just did 100 curls with heavy weights, the arm becomes very tight. Thank you and good luck to all

That is the way my deltoids feel also. Mainly in rear deltoids. Feels like tight burning, similar to what it feels like when you are lifting weights to the point they start burning. That's because some of the nerve fibers are not firing, so the muscle that is firing has to work harder.

Hi Jack,

My father recently had spinal cord decompression surgery and is experiencing C5 palsy or so John Hopkins Neuro Surgery has stated. If possible, I think it would really help for my Father to speak to someone who has gone thru something similar. You can reach me at 914-826-7793. We would like to find out who you saw at the Cleveland Clinic. Please let me know if you are open to speaking to him. We have had a hard time lifting his spirits and he is very frustrated about the lack of use of his left arm. His surgery was in November and his right arm has improved. Thanks in advance, we just feel helpless.

Best,
Kelly