neck fusion

Doc said I need to have 5-66-7 fused and Im geting it done next month. Any one know recovery time and if it causes any problems for wakeboarding in the future thanks

My father in law just had this done, You will be out for awhile. He was up and around in a week or so, but still has pain a year later. He is old though so at 28 your heal time will probably be less but still something to be careful with. Neck injuries are no joke!

Kyle,
Perhaps you can share more info as to why your only option is a fusion? At such a young age, you should be cautious of any surgeon that wants to cut on you and fuse you. The problem with fusions at a young age: obviously you are active which means that you aren't going to take it easy on the hardware, secondly at a young age the levels above and below the fusion will become somewhat weaker. Just try to fill me in on the particulars and we can talk. If you want you can email me.

To answer your question, 6-8 weeks is bone healing time. With that being said its up to your MD on time off and when he wants you to return to "play"

Hope this helps
Chris

I have not had Neck Fusion but I did have Spinal Fusion From C7 to L11. I can tell you that the recovery is not that fun. I have had other surgeries, Finger and Ankle and my back was worst. Not trying to scare you hear just trying to be real, I hate when people sugar coat shiat like this. I was out for 1 year, but I learned to that Running is key to fast recovery.

That being said, I am still able to ride at a high level after the surgery and Zero Pain Ever in my back. Really the only thing that I cant do on my board is (well, I can do them but it hurts like hell) are straight up regular raleys and arched back tantrums w/o a grab. The arching motion hurts like hell due to the lack of flex in my back. So I just learned Indy Glide and Indy tantrum instead.

Really you are going to be better off after the surgery. I take a TON of BIG slams and my back is always fine (knock on wood) I have never knocked anything loose. It will take some time to learn your limits, I would imagine that whiplash crashes will be out for a while for you.

The best advice I have ever gotten was to listen to what your body is telling you, if it hurts or feels like you are stressing the area you had worked out, back off a bit.

If you need any thing just shoot me an email, I would be more than willing to let you know more about my back and my recovery.

Good Luck

2nd Chris's post. Kyle, are you having neck or arm symptoms or both? Are the tests (MRI, CT) showing severe spinal cord or nerve root compression? If the symptoms are extremely bad, maybe a fusion will be necessary b/c of the multiple levels. C5 nerve will give you shoulder-upper arm sxs, C6- elbow and forearm to thumb or index finger, C7 to middle finger (occasionally C6 will effect all fingers/hand. Hope this helps.

I had a nasty C5-6-7 compression injury 2 years ago. It got so bad that I couldn't get out of bed in the morning without blinding pain. After 4mo of PT, and another 3mo home therapy I was 90%. I am about 95% a year later. I can't only imagine what fusion would be like.
PT can fix nearly EVERYTHING if done correctly.

I'd get a 2nd opinion at your age.

I have been going to pt 2-3 times a week since february when pain got so bad could not get out of bed. I have been on steroid packs and had several injections to get me by working and boarding and now wearing a neck support while riding which has helped. It feels like a nail in my neck that goes from shoulder muscles tense as rocks to numbness and pain down my lt arm. Some days are great and some suck

Kyle
Sounds like sx might be your only option since you have kind of exhausted conservative measures. With that being said is this going to be thru the anterior approach (front of the neck) or the posterior approach (back of the neck)?

I have had 3 discectomies and a lamonectomy and have chronic back pain all the time with my lower disk space narrowing all the time. I hope I do not need a fusion but looks like I will at some point.

They are going through the front and puting in two plates He said I should loose less than 20% of rotation. The doctor is a spine specialist out of Steamboat Co and does the us ski team work

Just got it done june 9th, not bad at all one day in hospital, some cool hardware and cadaver bone installed. No noticable loss of motion. Cant do any contact sports until june 2010 only down fall. (33 yrs old)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_E._Sarno

Don't do it!

Has your doc specifically explained why you need a fusion? Back in '07, I was diagnosed with Spinal Cervical Stenosis at C3 thru C6, which means my vertebrae had bone spurs that were poking inward, into my spinal cord. So every time I crashed, my cord was knocking against solid bone. I learned all this after a really hard faceplant that left both arms completely numb for several minutes, and the MRI's & meylograms that followed. I had to have fusions done at C3-4 and C4-5, and while they were in there they removed the spurs. But the cord was already bruised, and that tissue does not heal. I was also told that any kind of fusion will create added stress on the joints above & below it, and that if I continued to subject my neck to any kind of hyperextension, I was risking additional injury that could leave me paralyzed from the neck down. Needless to say, this pretty much ended my riding career.

You are pretty young (I'm 41), so your case could be quite different from mine, but this is nothing to mess around with. Talk with your doc, get a 2nd opinion if you can, and make sure you completely understand what's going on in there before you get back on the water.