Pain in shoulder after cervical surgery

I have had my C3-C7 fused 4 times in the last 3 years, with Laminectomy, and nerve ablation. 2 we're done Anteriorly, and 2 Posterior. I have severe Degenerative Disc Disease, Severe Osteoarthritis, and Rheumatoid Arthritis. I am only 49, but have the spine of someone 80 yrs old. If your pain goes down your arm at all, and/ or you have numbness in arms or hands or pins/needles I would contact your surgeon. It's not uncommon for the disc problem to move up a level, or to pinch a nerve. My last fusion was 10 months ago. I have constant muscle spasms in my shoulders & shoulder blades all the time. Every 30 minutes or so, I need to put my head on a pillow to give those muscles a break. Personally I don't think our muscles are equipped to deal with the extra weight from the rods, screws, & artificial discs. Which puts those muscles in a hyper tense state. Depending on your insurance, there is a procedure where there can put needles to kinda deflate the tense . It has good success rate. My insurance doesn't cover it. But if the pain persists, definitely see your Dr. , & if they X-ray it & see nothing, ask for a CT scan or MRI. Those are the only tests that were accurate for my stuff. I had 3 compressed nerves, and passed the thumb touching the tip of each finger test. Advocate for yourself, and good luck

I had ACDF c5-c7 a year ago and I'm in debilitating pain every day. I have nerve damage and severe carpel tunnel. My pain has only gotten worse and moved down to my shoulder blades and middle of my back. I haven't been able to go back to work. It's a struggle physically and mentally. My independence has been taken away. And of course the surgeon says the MRI looks good and the surgery worked. NO IT DIDN'T 😢. I'm so sorry for the pain you're going through. I feel like the surgeons don't want to admit that the surgery didn't help their patient. Neurosurgeon is now saying it has to be arthritis and to see a Rheumatologist. I just want to feel ok. The health system does not care about the people

I empathize with your frustration! But we don’t know what your physical state is like and not knowing that it’s hard to give some suggestions which might help, but I’ll take a stab at it. I am on my second ear recovering from my cervical spine surgery. The screws didn’t hold on the front side so they had to go in from the backside with a big rod and stabilize me. So I had two surgeries at once it was horrible. However, my spine surgeon did a great job. He is very confident about that and I am very confident in him! However, this is a big, however-– there are other things which then have to be employed if you’re still having a lot of pain. (Which I have). The surgeon could be the best in the world, but some of your pain is probably coming from all the muscles and connective tissue around your orthopedic surgery. Your orthopedic surgeon Doesn’t deal with that. You are going to need to continue seeing your orthopedic surgeon and you need to also have your orthopedic surgeon refer you out to other doctors and pain management to work on the rest of your body. There are many things to try. There’s a section here on MFR and that is what I needed! I have a lifetime of muscles and connective tissue pulling on my out of whack, neck and cervical spine. So once the surgery was done to fix the bones in place all the muscles and connective tissue now needed work. I’ve been seeing an MFR therapist for nine months and it is really helpful. I was told by multiple doctors pain management and others that I will need to stay in pain management for my neck and shoulders, muscles and connective tissue for the rest of my life. So periodically a couple times a month I go for management. And I have to increase my exercise to keep Everything strong and minimize the pain. I’m not sure it’s that your doctors don’t care. It’s just that they don’t know what to do because they’re not in charge of other things in your body. That’s when we become our own doctors. Good luck to everyone.