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Why does my abdomen tighten up after ACDF Surgery

Posted by mmclaugh2002 @mmclaugh2002, Jul 19 5:56pm

I am trying to maintain posture after ACDF Surgery. When I stand and walk my abdomen muscles tighten like a drum. I cannot relax them and walk and breathe properly.
Thoughts? Please!

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Mentor
Jennifer, Volunteer Mentor | @jenniferhunter | Jul 19 7:06pm

@mmclaugh2002 Welcome to Connect. After surgery as the incision heals, it tightens. It typically takes about 6 weeks for an incision to heal, and I remember that was when my scar tissue tightened a lot and it increased my symptoms from Thoracic Outlet Syndrome that already caused tight chest and neck muscles and pain. If you already had tightness in your chest, the incision can pull on that. If your cervical spine issues involved an injury to your neck, it's possible that there could be an un-diagnosed condition such as TOS. I have done a lot of physical therapy and myofascial release stretching for TOS before and after my spine surgery.

TOS does affect my ability to breathe properly because it is tighter on one side and the tight muscle and fascia extends from my neck to my pelvis surrounding the rib cage, and it makes it harder to expand one side of my chest. My incision from the C5/C6 fusion was very close to the TOS compression area between the collar bone and rib cage and muscles at the side of the neck.

Depending on how long it has been since your surgery, your surgeon may be able to send you to physical therapy for the breathing issues. I was able to go to PT after my surgery with instructions that she could not treat my neck, but she was able to release tight tissue at the base of my rib cage and it helped a lot. I didn't have any hardware, and was in a neck brace for 3 months so I had to be careful. You may be able to do some stretching while standing like lunges, etc, but you'll need to ask if that is safe for you.

Have you told your surgeon about your breathing issues? It could also be a lung infection if you are not able to expand your lungs properly. Anesthesia causes some phlegm accumulation, and if you can't clear it well, it can be retained and caused an infection. That also happened to me and I was on antibiotics 5 days after my surgery.

REPLY
1 reply
mmclaugh2002 | @mmclaugh2002 | Jul 19 8:22pm
In reply to @jenniferhunter "@mmclaugh2002 Welcome to Connect. After surgery as the incision heals, it tightens. It typically takes about..." + (show)
@jenniferhunter

@mmclaugh2002 Welcome to Connect. After surgery as the incision heals, it tightens. It typically takes about 6 weeks for an incision to heal, and I remember that was when my scar tissue tightened a lot and it increased my symptoms from Thoracic Outlet Syndrome that already caused tight chest and neck muscles and pain. If you already had tightness in your chest, the incision can pull on that. If your cervical spine issues involved an injury to your neck, it's possible that there could be an un-diagnosed condition such as TOS. I have done a lot of physical therapy and myofascial release stretching for TOS before and after my spine surgery.

TOS does affect my ability to breathe properly because it is tighter on one side and the tight muscle and fascia extends from my neck to my pelvis surrounding the rib cage, and it makes it harder to expand one side of my chest. My incision from the C5/C6 fusion was very close to the TOS compression area between the collar bone and rib cage and muscles at the side of the neck.

Depending on how long it has been since your surgery, your surgeon may be able to send you to physical therapy for the breathing issues. I was able to go to PT after my surgery with instructions that she could not treat my neck, but she was able to release tight tissue at the base of my rib cage and it helped a lot. I didn't have any hardware, and was in a neck brace for 3 months so I had to be careful. You may be able to do some stretching while standing like lunges, etc, but you'll need to ask if that is safe for you.

Have you told your surgeon about your breathing issues? It could also be a lung infection if you are not able to expand your lungs properly. Anesthesia causes some phlegm accumulation, and if you can't clear it well, it can be retained and caused an infection. That also happened to me and I was on antibiotics 5 days after my surgery.

Jump to this post

Thank you for responding. Here are my symptoms after ACDF surgery 7 months ago and I would appreciate any feedback :
1. Shortness of breath and shallow breathing
2. Fatigue
3. My abdomen gets extremely tight as I try to walk and hold my head upright
4. If the answer is wait a full year to recover, I understand but these symptoms continue.
5. I am in therapy with aggressive exercises to strengthen front and back neck muscles and improve walking and breathing.

REPLY
1 reply
Mentor
Jennifer, Volunteer Mentor | @jenniferhunter | Jul 19 10:00pm
In reply to @mmclaugh2002 "Thank you for responding. Here are my symptoms after ACDF surgery 7 months ago and I..." + (show)
@mmclaugh2002

Thank you for responding. Here are my symptoms after ACDF surgery 7 months ago and I would appreciate any feedback :
1. Shortness of breath and shallow breathing
2. Fatigue
3. My abdomen gets extremely tight as I try to walk and hold my head upright
4. If the answer is wait a full year to recover, I understand but these symptoms continue.
5. I am in therapy with aggressive exercises to strengthen front and back neck muscles and improve walking and breathing.

Jump to this post

@mmclaugh2002 The physical therapy that helps me the most is myofascial release. This is not aggressive therapy. It is stretching the tissues and waiting about 5 minutes because it takes that long to start to unwind the tightness and scar tissue. Even muscles that don't have scars can be stuck together and not moving. This also allows fluids to circulate, and stuck tissue is dehydrated tissue. If I do too much for strengthening, it makes my thoracic outlet syndrome worse and I will be in more pain. MFR can also address surgical scar tissue.

Mayo Clinic info
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/thoracic-outlet-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20353988
MSK Neurology
https://mskneurology.com/how-truly-treat-thoracic-outlet-syndrome/
You might want to be assessed for TOS and it's hard to find a specialists for that. You have to look at teaching medical centers that list TOS as a condition that they treat. For TOS, myofascial release works very well.

This is our Myofascial Release discussion.
Neuropathy - "Myofascial Release Therapy (MFR) for treating compression and pain"
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/myofascial-release-therapy-mfr-for-treating-compression-and-pain/
This talks about some breathing issues.
https://www.painscience.com/articles/respiration-connection.php
I don't think the answer is waiting a year. At 7 months, if you are fused, you have done a lot of healing already. It would be worth asking to be tested for TOS. If you had a whiplash that caused your spine problem, it could have injured the muscles in the neck and shoulder leading to TOS. If your neck is weak from being in a neck brace, therapy is good to strengthen that. I was in a brace 3 months and had to do some strengthening rehab. You can do MFR anytime even if you don't do it now in therapy. There is a provider search for MFR trained therapists at http://mfrtherapists.com/

A specialist for TOS is likely a thoracic vascular surgeon. Have you found a doctor with this specialty in your area?

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