Has anyone had the ACDF surgery on their neck?

Does it bother you that your neck doesn't move like it used to? Where did you have the surgery?

What questions should I ask for the ABDF surgeon?

I hope it works well for you.

@chcruzin
I am 54 years old and can move my head and neck pretty well and don’t notice a significant change in range of motion. I actually think that my range of motion improved after the surgery due to reduction in pain and stiffness in my neck. Do you have symptoms from spinal cord compression? If so, you will want to stop the damage to the spinal cord since it affects brain signals/communications to your body below the level of the cervical spine injury. I live in RI and went to a spine surgeon who was highly rated (Dr. Ian Madom at OrthoRI). The hospital he practices at also had good ratings. It is a smaller hospital but overall good experience. I could have gone to Massachusetts General Hospital but chose to stay local due to the online reviews/ratings. I will go to him when I need to get lumbar surgery. The ACDF surgery was outpatient (went in early morning and supposed to come home late in day but they kept me overnight to monitor due to drop in blood pressure during surgery. I don’t think the actual ACDF surgery was more than 2 hours. I don’t recall recovery being too long afterwards. I worked remotely at the time and was able to work on my laptop while lying in bed. It wasn’t too bad and I was just a bit cautious in the beginning when moving my head/neck around. My symptoms seemed to quickly improve soon after surgery so glad I did it. I know I am in store for more spine surgeries due to congenital spinal stenosis and degenerative disc disease. I’m delaying lumbar surgery with spinal injections to help manage spin. I am getting a hip MRI tomorrow to see where the source of pain is coming from and if injections would help. Good luck doing your research and making decisions that are best for you!

@chcruzin
Autocorrect changed “pain” to “spin.” 😉

Ask your doctor about a laminectomy? They can do it on cervical and lumbar. i had one done on my liver back and parts of my neck no metal. very happy with it but not the ACDF. I really wish the neurosurgeon would not have been so happy about it. ACDF is more money for the neurosurgeon (putting in all the metal) than the laminectomy (requires no metal no restricted neck movement)

Ask about laminectomy if he doesn’t do it I personally would find another doctor. The surgeon will not like doing it he looses money. Putting in the metal and the cost of the hospitalization along with physical therapy. Longer recovery ACDF.
https://www.precisionhealth.com.au/healthcare-services/advanced-neurosurgery-spinal-surgery/procedures-and-surgery/cervical-laminectomy/.

@chcruzin and @artemis1886
I may have laminectomy on my lumbar spine which gives more room for your spinal cord. My understanding is fusion is needed and metal supports if the spine needs to be stabilized. I can feel my lumbar vertebrae moving around when I twist which makes me feel I may need fusion/stabilizing of my spine. The excess movement may cause more pressure on nerve roots. If you get laminectomy you can hold off and get fusion/hardware later, if needed.

Mine was text book perfect. No pain; just stiff and sore. However, incision got infected so I'm on an antibiotic. It really wasn't bad at all. Now I have to go to PT. Don't be afraid.

My ACDF pops as I move it’s really loud and painful. I could not turn my neck. 24 hours later fine. When it gets really stiff and can’t move neck I normally get cortisone injections but I am currently not in the US.
Doing the exercises the physical therapist told me to do actually pops my neck when it gets stiff.