Anyone had an Anterior Cervical Corpectomy and Discectomy with Fusion?

Posted by Hank @jesfactsmon, Feb 17, 2020

My friend is going to be undergoing an Anterior Cervical Corpectomy and Discectomy with Fusion. She is very nervous about this and has been holding off for while as she has sought opinions from several doctors. Here is a recent message she sent me a few days ago when she first told me about it:
"I supposed to have this last year but kept pending it because I was scared oh well I am still sacred:)
Anyway, I did not get better with conservative/traditional treatment. I was diagnosed with Severe Cervical Spinal stenosis on 2018.
I went to 4 different specialist and surgeons (nerve and orthopedic surgeons) from different hospital and all urge me to have the surgery sooner than later to avoid serious conditions later (becoming a paraplegic) so here we are." Just wanted to start a discussion to see if anyone else has had this so I can tell her to join Mayo Connect and maybe get some answers. Specifically what was it like to have the surgery, how long to recover, kinds of complications, anything info that might be useful to someone facing this surgery. Thanks, Hank

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Spine Health Support Group.

Jennifer, Volunteer Mentor | @jenniferhunter | Jun 26, 2021

In reply to @constancebabe "Oh....Thank-You so much for messaging me about the practices on this site. I have never participated..." + (show)

@constancebabe I was wondering how you are doing with walking and your recovery?

constancebabe | @constancebabe | Oct 22, 2021

In reply to @jenniferhunter "@constancebabe I was wondering how you are doing with walking and your recovery?" + (show)

Sorry….I just am reading this now. I have been doing physical therapy for about two months and my legs are some days better and some days not. I think it has something to do with how tired I am, And how physical I’ve been during the day. I still am perplexed at what is going on and my surgeon thinks I’m doing well and when we hit a year then maybe we can look at something else If my symptoms still continue. I just purchased a recumbent bike/elliptical stepper to work on at home because it’s the same as the one I was using at physical therapy and I think the movement is good for me. I do notice that when I sit, it’s worse than when I’m moving ….so I try to move a lot during the day…. but you can’t be moving 100% of the time. There are days I get very concerned and by night time I’m somewhat depressed because it’s been a year since I’ve had trouble walking (even though my surgery wasn’t until March.) I will keep up with my exercises for the next couple of months and see how that goes otherwise I will seek a second opinion.
Thank you so much for reaching out and wanting to know how I’m progressing. I appreciate that. Sincerely, Connie

Jennifer, Volunteer Mentor | @jenniferhunter | Oct 23, 2021

In reply to @constancebabe "Sorry….I just am reading this now. I have been doing physical therapy for about two months..." + (show)

@constancebabe Hi Connie. It's good to hear from you! It sounds like you are doing the right things to keep up with exercise and movement. I was wondering what is the biggest issue with walking.. is it weakness or balance or a tightness like something is restricted and won't move even though your body is asking it to move? How is your posture when you try to walk? Are you standing up straight or bent over a walker or a cane? Where are your eyes looking? That may sound like a weird question, but that has a lot to do with balance. How about stairs? Are you able to walk around the block?

I have been working on walking too, but for a different reason. I had a bad ankle fracture in the spring of 2020 which required surgery and metal plates to fix, and that recovery was long and difficult. I had problems with the hardware causing pain, breathing issues with excess phlegm and chronic hives. I chose to have the hardware removed which helped all of that, so I'm in the recovery phase again now and going to PT. I lost muscle tone being in a cast last year, and that leg is still smaller and weaker and just building back strength so I can land on the ball of my foot to resist my body weight when walking down stairs is a challenge. When I tire out because the muscles are weak, I start compensating. Some muscles get too tight which affects the other side of the leg because muscles work in opposition to each other. That puts extra pressure on ligaments and tendons so they take turns hurting too.

What does help me a lot with core strength and walking is horseback riding. Even though I had ankle surgery last month, I am doing well enough to ride my horse at a walk for a couple hours. Just balancing my feet with weight in the stirrups is helpful to me. You may have noticed my profile photo has a horse. That is my older horse who is retired now, and I bought a new younger horse earlier this year. Just a walking motion on a horse gets me to compensate for that movement with my back and hips even though I'm not putting weight on my feet, and it requires balance. That is great physical therapy and horses are used for this purpose for therapeutic riding. If you are not comfortable on a horse, don't worry, they will lead the horse and you won't have to try to control it so you can focus on your balance and counter movement and it is fun too! There are places all over the country that do this for both adults and kids. You may want to check out our discussion on horse therapy.

I think you said you were near Madison, WI. I was looking up equine therapy places and this one may be near you.
https://three-gaits.org/
I would also highly recommend myofascial release or MFR therapy. That addresses tightness in the fascia which is the cobweb type stuff that connects everything in your body together. The fascia develops restrictions from injuries and surgical scar tissue, and working with a good therapist who also does MFR helps gets the body aligned and moving again. This link is a search for MFR therapists in WI and there are some that are probably in your area.
https://www.mfrtherapists.com/app/list.asp?state=WI&country=US
Here are the discussions on MFR therapy. See the first pages for details and links to information, and the Horse therapy discussion.
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/myofascial-release-therapy-mfr-for-treating-compression-and-pain/
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/equine-therapy-is-horses-helping-people-how-do-horses-help/
I can tell you from my own experience that a relationship with the right horse can be very healing emotionally and physically, and it gets me outside where I can appreciate the natural beauty around me, and I am a partner with my horse and we are always fine tuning that bond in ways to promote a safe experience. Therapy horses are selected to be calm and someone will be leading that horse from the ground so you don't have to worry if you don't have experience and knowledge about horses. Riding my older horse helped me rehab from my spine surgery and it builds great core strength and my posture is good because of this because I always sit up with good posture on the horse so it exercises my back properly.

If you have questions about any of this, just ask! Do you think you would like to try either MFR or horse therapy?

avogel | @avogel | Jan 30, 2023

In reply to @amywood20 "I had ACDF C4-C6 on December 19th. I would say recovery is going pretty good, so..." + (show)

@amywood20

I had ACDF C4-C6 on December 19th. I would say recovery is going pretty good, so much so that during my six week follow-up the surgeon's PA said I did not need to come back for another appointment unless I had an issue come up or physical therapy didn't help. Most of my symptoms involved the left arm/hand/shoulder. That's what I am going to PT for. I will say this surgery is not cookie-cutter in terms of the healing process. Everyone is different in how they heal, which is based on what needs to be done, how long the issue was there before surgery, age, health, physical activity level, smoker vs non-smoker, etc. Also, it seems that the surgeons have their own preference in terms of having to wear a collar/neck brace after surgery, bending restrictions, lifting restrictions, etc. Post op I only had to wear a soft collar when riding in a vehicle and that was just to protect the neck in the case of an accident. Some have to wear them nearly 24/7 for various amounts of time, which could be three months. My surgeon doesn't like patients wearing a collar/brace because the neck muscles weaken, but other surgeons require it. Like I said, it really varies. I had mine done by a spine specialist. Some go to an orthopedic doctor. It takes a long time for the nerves to heal after surgery, as they regenerate at a very slow rate. I'm not talking weeks, but months...even up to a year. Pain that isn't nerve-related goes away much faster though. I know your friend is scared but she really needs to get this taken care of. The longer she goes the higher the risk of the nerves not healing. I don't know if it's allowed to mention a Facebook group in these forums, but there is one for ACDF. I am in it and there is a lot to be learned there from others. Having said that, if she were to join that group it needs to be taken for what it is. Those with good outcomes don't stick around that much after healing, as they move on with their lives. Those that are struggling tend to post more, as they are seeking support from others. But like I said, I have found it helpful. It sounds like your friend's cervical spine is in worse shape than mine. I don't want her going into surgery and then being disappointed if she doesn't recover at the rate I am going at. I had very high expectations for how I thought I would feel immediately after surgery. Some wake up and the nerve pain is gone. I know a few like that. But, those tend to be the exceptions...which I didn't realize. When I woke up and had the same pain in the upper left shoulder blade and other areas, I was pretty frustrated. I had new pain that I did not have before surgery. So, she really needs to go into it without expectations since again, it is going to vary. One thing I did not know about before surgery was how the surgeon pins the arms down to help access the cervical spine. The arms get pulled and pinned tightly. That can cause quite a bit of post op pain. Also, when the cervical spine has discs replaced it causes the height to go back to where it should be. This stretches a lot of muscles connected to the neck. Again, this can cause pain, spasms, etc. I hope what I have mentioned is helpful. If she wants to join that Facebook group let me know and I will post the title of it.

Jump to this post

Please Amy, Am schedule to have ACDF surgery on February 20th.
Can you post the Facebook group title? I would like to learn more about from others to get an idea.
Thanks

nanac | @nanac | Sep 19, 2023

<p>Still in pain three months from cervical corpectomy. I had a full C6 cervical corpectomy and 3/4 of C5 and C7 corpectomies . I am still in pain three months out from surgery . Anyone else experiencing this !</p><p>Thank you</p>

Jennifer, Volunteer Mentor | @jenniferhunter | Sep 19, 2023

In reply to @nanac "Still in pain three months from cervical corpectomy. I had a full C6 cervical corpectomy and..." + (show)

@nanac Hello and welcome to Connect. I am a cervical spine surgery patient. I had a C5/C6 fusion because of spinal cord compression. I stayed in a neck brace for 3 months because my fusion was done without hardware. At that time, I had pain due to tightness from scar tissue and weakness from wearing the neck brace all the time for 3 months. After that, I did physical therapy and rehab. We are all different, and you had a pretty extensive surgery. I was able to release tight fascial scar tissue after an appropriate healing period with my physical therapist doing myofascial release and that does help relive pain for me.

There are other members discussing corpectomy surgeries in this discussion.
Spine Health - Anyone had an Anterior Cervical Corpectomy and Discectomy with Fusion?
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/anyone-had-an-anterior-cervical-corpectomy-and-discectomy-with-fusion/

nanac | @nanac | Sep 19, 2023

In reply to @nanac "Still in pain three months from cervical corpectomy. I had a full C6 cervical corpectomy and..." + (show)

Thank you for replying !!
My doctor ordered another CT and MRI because of the pain I’m still having . Both my upper arms feel like they are in a vice grip and still so much mid back pain . Hopefully I will get some answers!

Jennifer, Volunteer Mentor | @jenniferhunter | Sep 19, 2023

In reply to @nanac "Thank you for replying !! My doctor ordered another CT and MRI because of the pain..." + (show)

@nanac If the imaging doesn't find a problem, you may want to ask about being evaluated for thoracic outlet syndrome. I have this condition and it can be more common in spine patients who had a spine injury like a whiplash. It is a compression on nerves and vessels that travel under the collar bone to the arms. Having cervical spine surgery causes a lot of inflammation to this area and when I went through it, I had more pain because it affected the TOS. That did resolve in time with my physical therapy, but I still have TOS and can aggravate it with bad posture or doing too much lifting that pulls on my neck. Here is some Mayo information on TOS. It is hard to find a specialist who understands this.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/thoracic-outlet-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20353988

nanac | @nanac | Sep 19, 2023

In reply to @nanac "Still in pain three months from cervical corpectomy. I had a full C6 cervical corpectomy and..." + (show)

Thank you for this information!!

Amanda Roe | @amandajro | Sep 26, 2023

In reply to @nanac "Still in pain three months from cervical corpectomy. I had a full C6 cervical corpectomy and..." + (show)

Hello @nanac and welcome to Mayo Clinic Connect. I wanted to bring you into an existing discussion on cervical corpectomy that I thought you would benefit from, so you will find your post here now:
- Anyone had an Anterior Cervical Corpectomy and Discectomy with Fusion?: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/anyone-had-an-anterior-cervical-corpectomy-and-discectomy-with-fusion/

What has your surgeon said about your pain?