Seeking Some Answers About C5-C6 Spurring

@black03dakota
It seems you may need ACDF surgery on c5-c6 due to compression, bone spurs and radiculopathy. You would benefit from seeing an orthopedic spine specialist for MRIs of your cervical and possibly lumbar spine. They can advise of your options to get relief.

I had spinal cord compression and bone spurs due to degenerative disc disease and had ACDF surgery on my c5-c6. This helped improve my symptoms. I now need ACDF on my c6-c7 due to a new herniated disc pressing on my spinal cord. The surgery is not too bad. Make sure you get a good surgeon based upon reviews. Do your homework and research to help you make decisions.

Great questions, hope you get some good answers and please keep us informed on your progress.
I am have some of same issues
Take care

@black03dakota Hello and welcome to Connect. Bone spurs and bone remodeling may be caused by uneven pressure on the end plates of the vertebrae (the surface that abuts against the spinal discs). When you have a disc that is collapsing over time, it causes more pressure on the facet joints and causes wear and tear on them. A bulging disc may exert more pressure on one side of it. In a normal spine, the discs bear 80% of the body weight and the facet joints bear the other 20%. Facets allow for the rotation of the spine and those joints side against each other. If a bulging disc progresses enough, it can rupture which spills out the jelly like nucleus inside. The inflammation that this causes can begin the growth of bone spurs as the spine tries to stabilize itself.

The question of if or when spine surgery is indicated depends on your symptoms and loss of functions. It is an elective choice, and often a patient can't know exactly how much relief they may have post surgical intervention and you do your best with a decision from what you learn from your specialists. Generally speaking, if there is a condition causing compression of nerves or the spinal cord, nerves can be damaged or die if there is too much compression over too much time. Better results come from addressing a problem early before permanent damage sets in. That is a decision made between a patient and a surgeon.

Neuropathy in your arm and shoulder sounds like it may be thoracic outlet syndrome. That is often missed by doctors and it is misunderstood. Your neurologist may be familiar with it. A specialist who deals with TOS is likely a thoracic vascular surgeon. TOS causes a compression of nerves traveling between the collar bone and rib cage. These nerves also exit the spine between scalene muscles and scar tissue there can cause nerve compression. I have TOS myself. It may be more common in spine patients due to injuries such as a whiplash that can cause both problems, Often TOS is treated with physical therapy and stretching out overly tight muscles with a technique called myofascial release. MFR also helps surgical outcomes and helps with a lot of body pain that is generated by muscle spasms, tightness and scar tissue. Here is our discussion on MFR where you can learn more.

Neuropathy - "Myofascial Release Therapy (MFR) for treating compression and pain"
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/myofascial-release-therapy-mfr-for-treating-compression-and-pain/

Hello. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for your replies in this post. All this information is very helpful to me going forward. My goal would be to prolong surgery if possible. As far as injuries I did have a fell about 20-30 when I was in the military and landed on my feet. In addition, all the wear and tear of probably carrying 50-60 lbs of gear on my back at times. Thank you again everyone.

Hello again. I just thought about another question I have while I'm here again. With all the issues, here's another question I have and someone whom might have been down this road or on it now. Anyways, my question is I'm wondering long term if I had to work a warehouse or grocery store stocking type job I'm just wondering if that is feasible?

The reason why I ask this is because when I did that line of work, I usually had to pull pallets of water that weighed roughly around a 1000 lbs with a pallet jack. In addition, I had to stock canned goods on shelves where I had to stretch my arms and such above my head quite often. This also, doesn't including the other stocking duties but, typically the job description states might be required to lift over 50 lbs. Anyways, I'm just trying to prepare myself in a worse case scenario. Thank you in advance.

@black03dakota First, let me thank you for your service. My uncles were in the military. As far as life after spine surgery, that is a question that must be answered by the surgeon. Spine surgery increases the risk of adjacent segment disease because if you immobilize part of the spine, there is more stress in the segments that can move. When you already have some wear and tear, adding extra weight might increase the wear. I do everything I can to reduce extra wear such as working on tight muscles to ease the forces on my neck. Some patients have a series of spine surgeries and I don’t want that. I am 8.5 years after my cervical fusion and still doing well with no other spine issues. Myofascial release does help toward my goal. Would you be able to drive a forklift instead of physical labor pulling a lot of weight?