I had C5-6-7 ACDF surgery back on 6/22/06. Wore my Philly collar and did no lifting as instructed. Six weeks ago the collar came off and I started PT. I was started off with range of motion and gravity resistance exercises which immediately triggered the neck, shoulder, and arm, and upper back pain. My OS stated that the surgery was to alleviate the shoulder and arm pain. Here it is 3 months after surgery and my neck pain is constant and worse. I've been having the shoulder pain with the shooting pain down my upper arms with any repetitive motion (such as PT, washing dishes, scrubbing shower/bath) and it takes 3 days of doing absolutely nothing before it calms back down. I can tilt my head back ever so slightly before it becomes painful and turn it side-to-side 30% in either direction, but I can look down pretty well even with the fusion. Both hands are still tingling, but the intensity and achiness has increased.

The Physical therapist has sent me back to the OS because of the symptoms I was having. I've agreed to try (in the next week or two) facet ESI's, in hopes that it will increase my ability to turn and tilt my head. Backing a car out of a parking space has become down-right unsafe! My OS also mentioned getting an MRI to see if something could be causing the pains.

Has anyone else experienced the same thing just a few months out of surgery? How long does it take for the shoulder/arm pains to subside? What is normal and what is not normal 3 months after surgery? I'd like to think that this is not the way I am going to stay. Any and all insight would be greatly appreciated cuz I sure could use as much information as I can get.

Thanks,

Kim

Kim,
I am soo sorry you are still having pain after surgery.. I have occasional shoulder and neck pain if I overdue it or sleep wrong. I also have muscle spasms down the left side of my neck. Still have weakness in my left arm. NS said it would take up to a year to get the strength back. I am doing my own PT exercises at home. My biggest complaint is not having Motrin.. ugh! I lived on it before surgery. Tylenol does nothing.. Hang in there! Let me know how you are doing
Valerie

Kim,

I am a Myofascial Trigger Point therapist. I have treated patients post C5-6-7 ACDF surgery. What you describe may be from Myofascial Trigger points in the muscles on the neck. If you try to stretch these muscles without releasing the trigger points first then you may just making things worse with traditional PT.

I found this web site you may be interested in reviewing. I have no connection with this web site.
http://www.round-earth.com/HeadPainIntro.html

Best Wishes

Painfree,

That was interesting. I am going to send it to a friend of mine. I had the dreaded cervicogenic with variant migraine pain and/or occipital neuralgia. But it was caused by my C3/C4. A fusion took care of those headaches! But I did want to say that traditional PT did not help me either. After my fusion I had spasms that Kim is sort of referencing here. I did have a PT use some kind of tool on those trigger points and it took awhile to get those knots out. After that I had a massage therapist just do the trapezius and rhomboid muscles about every two weeks for about 2 months. And that pretty much took care of everything until the C5/C6 acted up. I am almost certain, like Kim, that these muscles will get tight again. But at least now I know what to do. Sometimes I wonder if the collars they give us to wear don't add to the problem. At times they work wonders when you are tired and can kind of rest your neck muscles. At other times I think they hold your head too upright and increase tension. But then again, I could be wrong. It is just that when I get a tenseness in my neck while wearing the collar, I will take it off just to stretch...very little. It seems to help. Thanks for the article!

I'm going to need to do some searching locally to find out if anyone in my area is skilled at it....I'll try just about anything at this point...I need relief and need to regain my range of motion in order to be able to funtion daily. I guess the question I should be asking now is, does insurance cover this the same as they cover PT???

Thanks,

Kim

Kim,

So glad I found the site again. Oh yeah, still having pain. Mine is a little weird, it's definitely activity related. I can go a couple of days and have little or no pain. Then wham, I vacuum or do whatever to set the pain off. It's frustrating! I felt better after my C-6/7 then I do now with the C-5/6. Tylenol does nothing for this pain! I take flexeril and that helps a little. I've already been released from the surgeon, I should be fine, hehe... NOT.

Im thankful I found the site again, no one understands the pain unless you have gone thru it!

Kathy

I have been in pain since ACDF 5-6-7 back in 04..my lumbar is shot too but the pain generated from my neck is very different than what it was pre op. It is deeper, more central, and radiates up my neck to the head and spreads across the top back.

I've talked about it with doc. No suggestions. I just take a pill in the afternoon to get a vacation from it..need one quick too.

PT? Lord. They never prescribed any PT for me where I had to exercise at all. It may be due to the extent of the damage?..dunno. I got my neck rubbed on and head moved around to break up some scar tissue but that was it. They act as though I should do just about nothing. I've learned to take it easy but of course I can do nothing.

Oh...one old symptom is back. When I outreach my arms to do something..say wash dishes at a sink, my back feels immediately as though I have a bad sunburn...weird.

All I would say to an ACDF person is especially if they told you how extensive the damage was and if you are over 50...like me, that two month recovery thing is BS. It was a year for me to get where I could do anything without hurting myself and I know I'll never be right again but I am trying to adapt. Just trying to deal with that everyday.

Good luck to you and may you get relief soon!
jb

JB,

That upper back sunburn feeling never left me, but they also told me prior to surgery that my neck and back would get no relief from the surgery...oh well....lol

I'm at a loss as to what to try. Bottom line is that I need mobility, range of motion, and sleep to function on a daily basis cuz my only other option is to give up and lay down and die. So, for now, I'm gonna fight this as long as I can or at least learn to deal with pain better.

By the way, if you order tea in the north, watch out cuz they will most likely bring you a cup of hot tea!....lol

Best wishes,

Kim

I' so glad i am not alone. I had C5-6 fusion 3 weeks ago. My doctor
said I would not need a collar. Stayed on meds for 4 days after return home and slept 16 hours a day. After post-op check I let my doctor know that the pain that was the reason for the surgery, which was in my left shoulder and arm seems to have moved to the right side. Any minimal effort is exhausting. Taking a drink without a straw entails me holding on to my neck and poring it in my mouth sideways. Would love to have more info as my doc says lets see what happens after rotator surgery, which by the way is in my left arm......

Hi N, I had surgery at the same levels as you and I wonder why your doc would not put you in a collar. Did you have one on when you woke up from surgery? I remember when I would take mine off to air out my neck it hurt to even hold my head up. I think I wore it for about 2-3 weeks then when I was in a car for another month or so.

I also had rotator cuff surgery the next month after my ACDF. I would not recommend it. I was still so sore from the cervical surgery that it made it difficult to do PT for my shoulder. I think that is alot of the reason why I still have pain and reduced range of motion in my shoulder.

Give yourself time to heal, take things slow for as long as you can to give your neck the time it needs to fuse. I think it is around 6 months but not sure on that. I think that is when the doc said I was fused. This was in 04 and with my brain I can barely remember my name sometimes

Hope you feel better soon and it will come although it doesn't seem like it now. Oh and were you in an MVA? SOunds so familiar with the cervical/shoulder combo...Sue