@westlakechap Hello and welcome. I am a cervical spine patient. My case involved a disc herniated into the spinal canal that had collapsed by 50%. I did not have bone growth within the foramen, but if I bent my neck sideways, I could hit the nerves and cause a burning pain. This pain subsided when I straightened my neck. Why? Because the foramen space was narrowed because the vertebral bones got closer together. If your disc is weakened, it may also be bulging which will offset the pressure toward the thinner side. It might not take very much to rupture the disc and spill out the jelly like nucleus. All I had to do to rupture my C5/C6 was turn my head. I heard it pop, and my head suddenly turned past its range of motion. I don’t know how current your imaging was prior to your surgery. Surgery creates inflammation. I do think your second opinion is valid in that it isn’t possible to predict exactly when a disc will rupture. Typically if a disc ruptured into the foramen, the inflammation from that causes bone spur growth as the spine tries to stabilize itself. I had a similar experience after carpal tunnel surgery and exacerbated arm and neck pain. I wondered if my neck was injured in moving me while I was unconscious. It turned out I had undiagnosed thoracic outlet syndrome causing pinching of nerves that had been missed. As you said, you need to work with your surgeon for your present condition.