Neck problem post op

[boopy1]

I am now 5 months post op and my pain got so bad over the holidays I went to see the surgeon. I am fused T-1 _S1 and my neck has always been the most difficult. My rotation is very poorand therapy has only helped a bit.
There is a longer piece of rod up into cervical area. He is going to remove Jan 14th(overnight only).
I cried because the thought of surgery again....

[Ryy]

Ryy

Linda knows people fused all the way, and mentioned that they are not happy campers. I wouldn’t doubt that for a second.

Doctors have the ability to fuse ALL levels from the front and rear. Fusing up into your neck will be a last ditch effort if all else fails. For now, you will have to be as positive as you can and try the exercises as your surgeon has suggested. You too, have had an extremely serious and difficult surgery and are still very early at 3 months.

Ed

Yeah I could imagine. Must be so stiff. Idk though, my neck has slowly gotten worse since a few wks post op. When I relax, neck is so far forward. Takes so much effort to hold it in a decent position all day, even with breaks. Causing a lotta strain and discomfort and headaches. I wonder what this does to my C discs in the long term too, being the curve in my neck is so big in such a short distance now. It's at least 90 degrees from C7 to C2 or 3 at rest. Gr!

[hdugger]

Ryy, I can't quite get a picture in my head of what's going on - have you posted pre and post-op xrays somewhere?

And, do you have a sense of what the curve reduces to if you do exercise? Is the issue that the curve is OK when you're consciously working on it, but that that work is really difficult. Or is the issue that it simply does not change, no matter what you do?

[Ryy]

My kypho curve was pretty high up pre op, and i'm fused to T3. Above T3, I'm still hunched over, it's not almost vertical, like a normal persons back is way up there, which is pushing my neck out forward/down to compensate. Like, if i'm slouched in a chair, with my butt on the front of the chair and my upper back way up by my shoulders touching the back of the chair, my neck is looking forward at the computer screen and is parallel to the ground, which is perfect. But when I sit up straight and proper in my chair, with my butt to the back of the chair where it's supposed to be and back is touching the whole back of the chair, my neck looks forward/down at about a 45 degree angle downwards. Another way to describe, is if you are sitting in your car, and recline the seat back to a approx 45 degree angle, my neck is looking forward and chin is parallel to the road. When i put the seat normal, straight up, my neck is looking down a bit, about 45 degrees, where i have to manually hold my head up to see in front, instead of looking down at the pedals. The vertebrae above T3 are still hunched a bit, which throws the balance off up there. Maybe I should've been fused higher, idk.

I'll post some pics tommorrow!

How are you hdugger?

[hdugger]

Ah, that makes sense.

I'm good - it's my son who has the unfused curve, I'm just the concerned parent

I was trying to figure out if the exercises my son did would be of any help to you, but it sounds like your neck problem is different from his. He had a "head forward" posture, but the orientation of his head was unchanged, so he just did chin tuck types of exercise to move it backwards.

But, it sounds like you need something to change the orientation of your head so that it faces forward instead of down. I wonder if that would just entail strengthening the muscles on the back of your neck.

[Ryy]

I'm seeing my dr next week about it. Mine shoots out forward as well as tilt down. I have to physically chin tuck and look up, to keep it in check. Neck muscles get very fatigued and strained, creates a pressure feeling in my head sometimes from the strain and headaches. I don't see anything to do other than exercizes and eventually fuse higher. I don't know much about fusion that high. I'll see what my doc says. Maybe I can lay on my stomach, and he can stomp on my back above the fusion, to flatten it out up there! xD

[hdugger]

I am so totally *not* a doctor (I couldn't even play one on TV) but I think if you can correct it, even for short periods of time, just by using your muscles, that you'll be able to resolve it without needing further surgery.