Neck Pain after Lumbar ADR anyone?

[Cheryl]

I am nearly 7 weeks post 2 level (l4-s1) lumbar ADR . The great news is that my low back is feeling much improved.

The bad news is that my neck (just above my shoulder blades) hurts bad. It's been going on about a month now and at first I thought it was from lying in bed too much watching TV so we moved the TV up high like in the hospitals. Then I attributed it to being up and about more and the neck overcompensating for the lower back not working.

I did see the doctor a couple weeks ago and he thought it could be nerve related because my arms and hands were having tingling and it should work itself out over time. He's recomended PT which I start on Monday. I'll return to him in a month and he'll order an MRI at that time if I'm still having problems. He was willing to do an X-ray (which he said wouldn't show much) but not MRI believing that I was still too early post op to warrant that. At the time I agreed that was the best course of action and I still plan to follow that plan. I know that one must exhaust conservative measures first and I hope that PT will take care of this. However, I'm getting extremely concerned that this is discogenic pain. This is dejavu of when my low back first started hurting. I can get the muscle pain and spasms around my neck vertabrae under control with 5 mg of diazepam but even Norco won't get rid of the disc pain.

Just wondering if anyone else has had neck pain post lumbar surgery?

Cheryl

[chasswen]

cheryl
i had some issues with my neck after my surgery for a few months.
and still to this day i have a very little numbness on my finger next to the pinky right hand. but it seems to be improving.
great news on the back.
but please remember still no hand stands take it easy.
i am so pleased that you are recovering well.
chuck
tell your annt and mom i said HEY!!!

[Maria]

I've not had ADR or fusion yet, just 2 discectomies at two lumbar levels. About 7 years ago for the first time my neck "went out" like my low back used to. Had difficulty with use of arms/hands/fingers for about 2 weeks at keyboard or other.


Several more episodes like this but last episode was in Oct. this year I believe and couldn't move my head at all, even looking downward gave me severe pain for several days. After nearly two weeks of very limited use of my neck, I went to Urgent Care and got a shot of Toradol to relieve muscle spasms follwed by appt. with an OSS that week.

I've had a cervical MRI last year I believe and from what I gather, I have DDD at multilevels like my spine, and a disc bulge at least one level that I recall and some other stuff going on like bone spurs.

This past Oct. the other thing that happened and I can't say it was the first time but was the first time that it lasted, I had thoracic pain!!! And this was a stabbing pain right around the bra hook area... man, that pain lasted months!!!!!!

It's just now resolved a bit tho if I do any upper body type of workout I end up with cervical and thoracic pain (lumbar OK).

In my case I was told I have "bad spinal genetics"~ DDD throughout spine, or as my OSS said "crappy spinal situation".

Get a cervical MRI if symptoms warrent. I think there are plenty here that have had cervical symptoms after lumbar symptoms even if not having ADR yet and many I've read about that have had c symptoms and l symptoms after fusion or the c before the l and so forth..

Good luck!! Hope the pain resolves on it's own. I sleep with a cervical pillow every night now!

[dshobbies]

Cheryl,

Great news on your back, not so great for your neck. I personally had no cervical problems after my 3 level but Mark told me that cervical problems are not uncommon with lumbar patients. You're carrying yourself cautiously and may be using muscles differently but if this problem worsens or doesn't resolve itself in a reasonable amount of time, I agree with Maria and an MRI is probably warranted.

Good luck and wishing you continued success, Dale

[Michelle]

I didn't have neck pain, but right between the shoulder blades. It was hell for a while. But I think it had to do with the change in my posture that the decrease in pain allowed. It took a while for the rest of my spine to figure it out. It wasn't until I was able to really get settled into doing Pilates after my 12 week post op that I got better. Hope yours heals faster-try not to worry, that will only aggrivate it!