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Lower Back Pain Following ACDF Surgery?

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Posted 1/14/2015 5:03 AM (GMT 0)
I had ACDF done on c5-c6 in April 2014, but my c6-c7 was found to have congenital partial fusion, meaning that my c5-c7 is joined in one block.

One thing I would like to ask here is:

Do you encounter lower back pain after surgery?
My lumbar spine is found to have hyperlordosis and my pelvis is excessively anteriorly tilted. I googled research a bit. It says 7 out of 10 americans experience lower back pain following ACDF surgery. I have a mri check on my whole spine, there is no disc herination in my thorasic and lumbar spine. And most PT, chiroprators, orthopedic dr considered hyperlordosis was the cause based on my X-ray.
However, This "side effects" has not been mentioned by most patients who made their testimonials in YouTube.

I hope to seek your advice to see whether compensational change takes place in lumbar spine or pelvis.

Stay happy no matter what
Posted 1/14/2015 9:29 AM (GMT 0)
Welcome Stayhappy to the chronic pain forum at HW. Sorry to see your having issues elsewhere after undergoing surgery to fix a different problem area. However I can say this isn't the first time I have seen this question out here which leads me to believe others have had some problems. You might try using the forum search at the top of the page and see what you can find in past post's here. I can say that any time you spend years with a problem that can have you change the way your body particularly your spine moves you raise positional issues and we see this almost always in people with knee issues post repair/replacement in conjunction with hip pain. Your body will compensate changes to the way you move and through motion to bring the most relief from injury and pain. Hence limping, walking favoring your good knee, taking the weight off your bad side and distributing elsewhere and generally in relations to knees that will put that weight distribution on a hip essentially causing more profound wear and tear as well as movements its not generally going to use as often. Spinal issues are not thought to be dealt with any different and if you have had issues since birth thats a long time other parts of your spine have picked up the slack so to speak and so I would see how post repair would alleviate that demand and cause positional pain issues as it relearns its role. PT and regular exercise should help some but again thishas bbeen a long term job your lumbar areas took on.
Posted 1/15/2015 3:15 AM (GMT 0)
I found several scientific articles a while ago about lumbar pain after ACDF, but I can't find them now. I can't say your problem is like mine. I broke C3 in a fall, but also crushed 6 more vertebrae, 2 in lumbar. I was paralyzed for a while, in hospital and rehab place for months. However, now I have much worse lumbar pain than before the fall.

Livestrong has an article, but mostly lumbar pain after ACDF is blamed on muscle issues. I do have really bad back and other muscle contractions when I wake up and have to stretch a lot before getting out of bed to be able to stand up. Some articles blame lying on back or side. I don't know how else they expect us to sleep.
Posted 1/15/2015 1:21 PM (GMT 0)
Dear Alice,
My grateful thanks for your sharing of your story.
I could understand the hardship of the pain you suffer from.
I find a little at ease for knowing that it might be due to muscle issues.
Hopefully, things can be alleviated thru stretching and exercises.
Will not give up the hope to be sporty again.

Stay happy
Posted 1/16/2015 9:22 AM (GMT 0)
Hope to hear more patient stories ......
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