pain after posterior cervical fusion?

Posted by darby413 @darby413, Aug 27, 2023

After 14 weeks of posterior cervical fusion, I have terrible pain in my upper arm between shoulder and elbow. It occurs in both arms but especially in left arm and I am right handed?

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I know the feeling, I had acdf on c6/7 back in February. I was told the surgery had a 97% success rate. I’m now 6mths post surgery and in more pain than I was before.
My pain starts on the right side of my face in my cheek, I feel like something is wedged in between my neck and shoulder my right arm continually feels like burning tingling with my hand changing colour and going numb between a cold frostbite feeling to being on fire, my right arm has severely lost range of motion and I get the same burning pain down my right leg into my foot.
My neurosurgeon is still saying the surgery was a success.
I’ve had follow up MRI, CT, EMG, CT SPECT and a 3 phase bone scan. I’ve even sort the option of a second neurosurgeon and they both agree saying there is no issue now, even though c5/6 has a minor bulge and is impinging on the spinal cord they both believe there is enough room for the c6 nerve root not to be compressed.
3 mths after surgery I was referred to a pain specialist who has diagnosed me with complex regional pain syndrome.
I am currently on more pain medication than I was pre surgery.
All I can suggest is push for a second opinion and monitor for and colour or temp changes in the limb

REPLY

@leigh123 Those symptoms with arm tingling and your hand changing color and getting cold could be something like thoracic Outlet Syndrome which I have. It could be worse because of inflammation from the surgery. I am also a cervical spine surgery patient, and my TOS was more painful after my cervical surgery which I expected, and it did get better. I have done a lot of physical therapy and myofascial release in treating the TOS. A lot of doctors don't understand TOS, and it can be more common in spine patients who's issues stem from an injury like a whiplash. In time, the symptoms could get better as you recover more from surgery. Issues caused by tightness can be helped by MFR therapy and you will have scar tissue from your surgery that likely has tightened up in healing. I do have to periodically stretch out my surgical scar. Here is our discussion on MFR.

Neuropathy - "Myofascial Release Therapy (MFR) for treating compression and pain"
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/myofascial-release-therapy-mfr-for-treating-compression-and-pain/
You can search for an MFR therapist at https://www.mfrtherapists.com/

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Thanks, I did ask my pain specialist about TOS, as researching it showed a similar pain pattern, he did the adsons test and it was negative bilaterally.
At the moment, I am waiting to see a vascular dr as my pain specialist is concerned about a vein potentially being blocked causing circulation issues and therefore causing nerves to misfire.
I have been doing physio and hydrotherapy for the last 18mths, since the injury first happened at work, my physio has tried myofacial release multiple times, but as of the last 2-3months my neck and arm are super sensitive to touch so I have been sticking to hydro, mirror box therapy and graded imaging.

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@leigh123

I know the feeling, I had acdf on c6/7 back in February. I was told the surgery had a 97% success rate. I’m now 6mths post surgery and in more pain than I was before.
My pain starts on the right side of my face in my cheek, I feel like something is wedged in between my neck and shoulder my right arm continually feels like burning tingling with my hand changing colour and going numb between a cold frostbite feeling to being on fire, my right arm has severely lost range of motion and I get the same burning pain down my right leg into my foot.
My neurosurgeon is still saying the surgery was a success.
I’ve had follow up MRI, CT, EMG, CT SPECT and a 3 phase bone scan. I’ve even sort the option of a second neurosurgeon and they both agree saying there is no issue now, even though c5/6 has a minor bulge and is impinging on the spinal cord they both believe there is enough room for the c6 nerve root not to be compressed.
3 mths after surgery I was referred to a pain specialist who has diagnosed me with complex regional pain syndrome.
I am currently on more pain medication than I was pre surgery.
All I can suggest is push for a second opinion and monitor for and colour or temp changes in the limb

Jump to this post

Please don’t assume that CRPS is the correct diagnosis. My daughter had ankle pain for 2 years after an ankle injury that was improperly treated. She could not walk and her leg atrophied. We were told it was CRPS but didn’t believe that.
Mayo accepted her and eventually correctly diagnosed her with tarsal tunnel syndrome that needed surgery.
Bless Dr. Spinner. He fixed her.
Please don’t assume the CRPS diagnosis is correct. Keep pressing for answers. It may take a while.

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@docb99

Please don’t assume that CRPS is the correct diagnosis. My daughter had ankle pain for 2 years after an ankle injury that was improperly treated. She could not walk and her leg atrophied. We were told it was CRPS but didn’t believe that.
Mayo accepted her and eventually correctly diagnosed her with tarsal tunnel syndrome that needed surgery.
Bless Dr. Spinner. He fixed her.
Please don’t assume the CRPS diagnosis is correct. Keep pressing for answers. It may take a while.

Jump to this post

I am very hesitant of the CRPS diagnosis, I do know it is a real diagnosis as my mum suffers from it after carpal tunnel surgery but I also know something is not right with my cervical spine, as I find pain is positional and very similar to before surgery. I’m starting to think the CRPS diagnosis is a get out of jail free card when they don’t know exactly what is going on but since I now have “CRPS” no doctor wants to intervene in case it spreads.
All that seems to be happening is changing up and increasing medication

My most recent MRI clearly states
Anterior spinal fusion at C6/7 level with satisfactory alignment. There is loss of disc signal at C5/6 level with disc height space reduction and there is stretching of the posterior longitudinal ligament at
this level with disc-osteopnvte complex
There is effacement of the anterior CSF space with also subtle undulation of the anterior surface of the cord. There is slight blurring of the signal at the right-sided dorsal root ganglion at this level and
narrowing of the right neural foramen.

But still 2 different neurosurgeons disagree with the findings as my EMG came back normal

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