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Is it possible to have neck and lumbar surgery at the same time?
Currently I am in the process of having a fusion at L3-L4 which will be an extension from the fusion at l4-l5 that was done in October of 2022. I was great from my first fusion until about 6 months ago and the pain started again in my thigh but this time it was the left side and my buttocks also radiating down the back of my legs. The pain is absolutely excruciating. While I know that the lumbar fusion is for sure, my pain management doctor ordered an MRI of my cervical spine because I hadn't had an MRI since 2023 on my neck. I told him that occasionally I experience pain go all the way down the back of my body from my neck to my feet if I move my neck a certain way. Mind you I've known that I have stenosis since I was about 20 because I have degenerative disc disease. Around age 27 I wanted to get surgery on my neck done to get rid of the pain that goes down my left arm. Unfortunately, my job and timing didn't work out to get surgery. The next time I attempted to give my neck attention my lower back started hurting and I ended up having the l4-l5 fusion. Needless to say when my pain management doctor went over my MRI results of my cervical spine he commented that it is worse than my lumbar spine. The thing is is that the original referral this time around is just for my lumbar. The concern of the neck came around halfway through this process. Unfortunately the neurosurgeon in town won't even look at my neck images because that isn't what they received the original referral for. I have now reached out to Mayo as they are considered a Centers of Excellence facility through Walmart (I work at Sam's Club). I am hoping that the neurosurgeon will look at my cervical images as well. I would just hate to get lower back surgery and find out it was my neck that causes the pain! So I was curious if anybody has ever had lumbar and cervical surgeries at the same time or one right after another or if this is even a possibility. I wish there was such a thing as a fake spine because I would sign up to have it implanted! Unfortunately due to degenerative disc disease I'm going to be encountering problems every couple years I'm sure. It just sucks the life out of me!
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@nikkilee Welcome to Connect. I don't think a surgeon would operate on both cervical and lumbar at the same time. You need to be able to function during recovery and that would be extremely difficult. You know what symptoms you have when moving your neck. You may want to call your insurance company to see what you need to do to get a referral for your cervical spine. Mayo would want to see all your imaging for review. They should be evaluating your entire spine and developing a plan. Your neck can cause pain anywhere in your body. I had that situation with spinal cord compression in my neck, and I had surgery at Mayo.
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3 Reactions@nikkilee
I feel for you. You were young to start having degenerative changes in your spine. Do you know if you were born with a congenitally narrow spinal canal? I was and have had surgery on cervical and lumbar surgeries but 2 years apart. I once wanted to know the same thing as you if I could have a 2 for one deal to save time with one recovery period.
My surgeon prioritized my cervical spine over my lumbar spine due to my spinal cord being compressed and causing symptoms above/below the level compressed (C5-C6). Signs of spinal cord compression can be head/neck/shoulder pain, arm/hand weakness (handwriting worsens/drop things), bladder/bowel control issues, and walking/balance issues.
Now that I have had both surgeries separately, I would not want to have both done at the same time due to pain from recovery and different issues each presents. The lumbar was the hardest recovery and most painful for me (L3-L5). The time under anesthesia would be too long and then how they position you and connect equipment is different so repositioning to do a 2nd surgery may not be wise/practical and could add risk.
I am scheduled soon for my 2nd cervical spine surgery (C6-C7). The longer my spinal cord is compressed due to a herniated disc (only have 8mm diameter space in my spinal canal when average is 13-15mm) the more chance for permanent compression injury/symptoms.
Can you have the referral updated to include looking at your cervical spine? The surgeon can look at both and determine the best treat options and priority.
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6 ReactionsI just had cervical spine surgery.
I've had tremendous pain in my lower back/hips. After MRI's of neck and back, the Dr said surgery on my neck was most important because of pressure on or near the spinal cord. Even though I had no pain in my neck.
My lower back is still very painful. I mean very painful. The Dr says he wants me to se a physical therapist and pain management Dr first and depending on the outcome, we will decide about surgery.
I'm very frustrated because of the pain and I'm not sure a physical therapist will help and a pain management Dr does just that. Neither are going to fix the root cause of my pain.
Until I get my referrals, I just continue to hurt.
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1 ReactionI have both cervical and lumbar stenosis (both multilevel) and my surgeon was proposing lumbar surgery followed 4 weeks later by cervical surgery.
@hastobekatt Wow, that is a tight schedule. If you are having lumbar laminectomies, that may not be an involved recovery. If you are having more involved lumbar fusion or instrumented lumbar surgery, the recovery is often longer, more painful and may involve rehab. Your surgeon needs to answer what your recovery would be like. I know my cervical recovery from a single level fusion was around 6 months, that was 3 months in a neck brace and rehab after that. Of course your experience may be different.
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1 ReactionTwo years ago I had a spinal laminectomy on L3-L4, and cervical fusion of C3-7 the following day at Mayo. My back pain was insignificant compared to my neck. The surgery on my neck was done posteriorly with lots of issues in the neck area. I am fine today and glad I had both done together. If you are going to hurt, make the hurt at the same time!
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