Thank You, will consider!

@dhornsby1 Welcome to Connect. Fusion at C5/C6 does not affect neck movement a lot. Head turning is done mostly by C1 & C2 with help from C3 & C4. Perhaps a minuscule amount from C5. It will affect forward bending a little bit. I am fused at C5/C6 and my neck motion with head turning is the same as before surgery. I can't touch my chin to my chest anymore, but it is fairly close. I'm not sure if fusion at C6/C7 would affect being able to twist your shoulder forward or back. That might be a question to ask a surgeon or physical therapist. One thing that also helps movement is to stretch out stiff surgical scar tissue or knots in neck muscles. I have worked with a physical therapist doing myofascial release for this. I don't want any neck spasms to put extra strain on my remaining cervical disks. I think if I can minimize extra stress, it may prevent the need for future surgery. Also per my surgeon, the best way to avoid spine surgery is maintain core strength. It all supports the cervical spine from below. The best time to decompress the spinal cord is before permanent damage occurs. That's also something to ask about. A surgeon can't tell you exactly when you would pass that point, but they can show you the imaging and explain it.

There are surgeons who do both artificial disks and fusion. I could have had either, but chose fusion as I could do that with only a bone disc spacer and no hardware for only one level. It turns out, my body doesn't like foreign materials.

Have you had several opinions from spine specialists?

I've had a fusion involving C3-6. I has minimally affected my mobility, primarily my range of motion turning my neck is affected, but not too much. It has been far more successful than the most recent lumbar fusion.