Cervical Posterior fusion from C-3 thru C-7. Had this?

So I have just gotten back from my cervicale injection appointment for a C6-C7 Diss herniation. Currently have c3-c6 fusion surgery (two operations ..one when I was 15...C3-c4 fusion - diving accident / 2nd was when I was 40 due to disk degeneration fusion was extended to include C3-c6.

I am assuming my forthcoming surgery consult will likely mean another fusion extended to include C7 disk.

Just wondering the incremental movement loss I can expect to have once they extend fusion to C7... I would say I have about 85%-90% movement with my current fusion.. C3-c6.

Any advice would be much appreciated!

UPDATE:

So had MRI and saw surgeon. MRI basically shows what one would expect of discs below fusion...BUT

my ongoing arm and finger nerve pain could be from one of 2 things.

Will need an EMG to verify where pain is coming from.

C8–T1 Radiculopathy OR Ulnar Neuropathy

god I hope it is Ulnar Neuropathy....if so they would just need to do surgery on my elbow area...

My fear is it is my neck...but by and large...my neck has been feeling great. just the area by my shoulder blade to my right elbow and two fingers on my right hand (ring and pinky) numbness and pain..

If neck they they would extend the rod in my back to C8 (currently c3-c6)..... but would not need to go in the front at all... so praying it is my elbow. Kind of makes sense it might be elbow...I remember in my TKD class when it all started we were doing a lot of punches (just to air) and I remember leaving the class thinking I pulled a muscle in middle right of my back below shoulder blade.... but who knows.

@ckmerc have any of your doctors mentioned the possibility of thoracic outlet syndrome? The symptoms your are reporting a classic for TOS that causes ulnar nerve compression. You bend your elbow which also stretches the ulnar nerve that may be compressed under the collar bone. I have TOS which did cause ring and pinky finger pain and numbness/tingling. With your punches to the air in exercising, this would likely increase symptoms for a person with TOS.

This of course causes a lot of confusion in diagnosing spine problems, and you wouldn't want to go through a surgery that may not help if the bigger problem is TOS. It is worth asking for an evaluation for TOS which would be a Doppler study to see if there are changes in blood flow with different positions when you raise your arm or turn your head, listening to the pulse in your neck while you turn your head, and it may show up on an MRI of the shoulder that shows the brachial plexus. With your past history of a diving accident causing cervical disc damage, that is also enough to cause TOS from the injury of traumatically jerking your neck muscles at the time.

If you do have TOS, you could spend a few months treating that with physical therapy and myofascial stretching to see if it helps. You may have problems in more than one area in spine and shoulder, but it would help to try to understand any issues separately. I started myofascial release therapy with my physical therapist years ago because of TOS, and I had spine surgery and carpal tunnel surgery. Carpal tunnel surgery did not cure all the pain because I had undiagnosed TOS. It is most often missed by doctors or misdiagnosed.

Here is some information on TOS. Mayo is an excellent place to diagnose TOS.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/thoracic-outlet-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20353988
https://mskneurology.com/how-truly-treat-thoracic-outlet-syndrome/
Our discussion of Myofascial Relaese Therapy:

Neuropathy - "Myofascial Release Therapy (MFR) for treating compression and pain"
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/myofascial-release-therapy-mfr-for-treating-compression-and-pain/
Have you heard about Thoracic Outlet Syndrome before?

I have not..... I will bring this up to my Surgeon tomorrow..thanks

My first surgery on my neck was the same as yours in 2016 an anterior fusion C4-7, C4-5 fused completely C5-6 And C6-7 didn't fuse completely That's why I had the Posterior fusion.During the posterior fusion I had a Laminectomy done at C3-4 to relieve severe stenosis at that level.Thanks for responding.Trying to attach photo of last x-ray not sure if it comes out.If it does come out where you can see the photo you can see the three separate operations

Hello,
Wonder if anyone has had their entire Cspine fused c4-t1 or similar. My scenario, at pretty young age I had very successful ACDF c5-c7 (due to many problems including chord compression, a reverse curve to my neck (common if have long straight neck, that my NeuroSpine surgeon straightening w the fusion by carving out the cadaver bone in a metaculios way). Over the years other areas of my Cspine has become worse. Radio Frequency Ablation by a very skilled Pain Mgmt doctor, worked great to rid of any pain years after the fusion. I never needed Pain meds etc. Over
last 9 months bad pain started creeping up and RFA or other non invasive procedures did not help at all. Recently (15 years after original c5-c7 fusion), imaging shows I have bad stenosis, the worse at c4-c5 with anterior/ posterior chord compression, among many other issues thoughout my Cspine, including Anterolisthesis with flexion at c4-c5 and c7-t1. Total mess. I am on my own w no help. I wonder how you function on your own, after having your entire neck fused? I did great after my first fusion, but this is far more drastic. I would appreciate any candor from others who may have had a similar fusion/ experience. Ty

Have you tried MFR deep myofascial tissue release therapy? If not, you need to find a therapist and try that. I had to see Spine surgeries cause the first one wasn’t good enough and now I have a rod infusions from C2 C3 C2 from 2T1. Unfortunately it didn’t fix the pain. All the pain that I went in there with it did fix some. You can only tell sometimes by doing something what is right in hindsight. Indeed the surgery was necessary. It was unexpected that my bones fell apart in my neck because they were so soft, but it was unknown that a lot of my pain was specifically from my muscles, moving as a big brick on my shoulder, pulling on my neck. So in my case, I’ve gone about it in a backwards way, so I do all the my facial tissue release now which should’ve been done before. Oh well, my surgeon who is top drawer was not eager to do my surgery, but we had done everything together and I totally trust him, but I push for the surgery because I couldn’t stand the pain any longer. It’s not two years yet and I’m still recovering from the second spinal surgery because it involves my body being trained to accommodate the rod that’s in my back. I am severely round shoulder and the rod is straight. My orthopedic surgeon is straight up with me and he said it’s gonna take a while for my back to accommodate the Rod. there’s a possibility I have some scar tissue that’s also developing and there’s a possibility that additional arthritis has set in at C2. So I go to the surgeon every 3 to 6 months and we do x-rays and if necessary MRIs. I am 68 years old and I accept that this is part of my aging process and I wasn’t born with the world‘s best body. But I’ve increased my exercise tenfold and it’s really helping mitigate my pain and managing my health going forward.

Thank you for your response.
I have severe spinal chord compression, and vertibra slippage. Scary to even look at the MRI. I am far beyond traditional pain modalities and should have had surgery at least 6 to 9 months ago. I just wanted to know what it would feel like to have your cspine fused from c3 to c5 ( new required posterior fusion) plus c5-c7 ( previous anterior fusion). So total fusion will be c3-c7. I am still doing consults w Neuro Spine surgeons, since my original, amazing honest neuronspine surgeon is now 4 hours away.

I am so grateful for this thread on neck pain and possible relief. Many thanks to all. I’ve put through a request on Mayo’s portal for a consultation and a new MRI, as they last did one in 2022. It showed damage mainly in c5-6-7, with moderate stenosis, mild bulging discs, Perineural cysts, and severe arthrosis.
I am recovering from my 2nd fusion at L4-5-S1, done July 2023, at Mayo, which this time feels successful - so it’s time to address my painful neck! I’ve been trying to build my core riding my new e-bike with my husband, I think I’ve been leaning forward and putting my weight on the handles? Something has increased the neck pain , turning my head is painful.
Any advice on how to progress is appreciated!