C6 - C7 fusion

Hi Frankie66 and Welcome to HealingWell Chronic Pain Forum! My very first fusion was a C6/7 ACDF way back in 1985, Things have changed allot since I had that fusion, (for the most part, for the better I might add!) My guess is that it is probably muscle strain in your neck, but I would definitely call your surgeon and ask them about it. Are you wearing any type of cervical collar? Back when I had my first one done I had to wear a cervical collar for four months or longer. When I had the second one done at C5/6 in 2009 I only had to wear a soft cervical collar for a couple of weeks.

Have you talked to your surgeon about your job, I would think sitting at computer for long periods of time would put quite a bit of stress on your neck, so I would definitely make sure that you got that cleared with your surgeon first, if you haven't already. I found that when my neck got sore after the surgery, that reclining in a recliner helped take the strain off my neck an it helped ease the pain allot! Even now if my neck gets really strained I will do that and even sometimes put on my soft cervical collar for a couple of hours.

I will tell you that you need to be gentle with yourself and no matter how good you might feel, don't over due it and put stress on your neck! The bone graft in a fusion needs allot of time to grow and fuse, and it can take up to a year or longer to fuse completely. So unless you have to go back to work full time, I would try and take as much time as you can to get healed up before returning to work. Maybe just start going in for just a few hours at a time to start off with to see how you handle it?? I know on my first fusion when I was allowed to go back to work, it was only for two hours in the morning for a week or two then two hours in the morning and two in the afternoon, for a couple of weeks, it was well over a month and a half after starting back before I was back to working full time. But as I said that was back in the mid eighties too!

Anyway I wish you well, and hope this all works out well for you! Again I Welcome you to the forum!

White Beard

Hello there,
I certainly agree with the previous posts. Many surgeries are healed in 4-6 weeks but the spine takes time to fuse and it's just not that fast. Whenever you do go back to work, what is your chair like? Does it have a high enough back that you can lean on sometimes when your neck and shoulders get tired? Like White Beard said resting in a recliner can help a great deal so try to have something close to that for many months to come.

You are right to be concerned about damaging the good that has been done. It is so much better to take some extra time now and let it heal properly rather than starting all over at some later date.

Glad you found us. It's probably too soon for your surgeon to have checked for any fusion yet. Then it does take a year or more to be fully fused, so be careful with yourself.

THINK FUSION!!

One question here are you still in a collar? I would be very careful about any exercise at 4weeks post cervical fusion. Your neck aching is likely just the weight of holding your head up. We see so many post cervical that push healing,returning to work,exercising,going about daily tasks that throw the entire procedure down the toilet and not all are disregarding Drs orders when they do so. Many Drs lessen their own patients success of fusing by being hasty in releasing to full pre-op status. Listen to your body,if something is off theres likely a good reason. The CP 101 thread in blue at the top of this page has some wonderful advice and tips,some pre-op some post op. The best chance you can give yourself is to always be mindful of the fusion in all things you do. Its like a plant sprout you have repotted,its just starting to take with small new roots and babying it,being gentle with it and not moving it or shaking it up gives it the best shot of growing strong and firm in its new foundation.

Vickie's analogy to a repotted plant sprout is the best I've heard. That healed incision you can see does not tell the whole story at all. There is so much more healing to be done on the inside.

Walking an hour may be pushing yourself. Also if walking outside there is always the chance of stumbling, falling which would not be good. Do you have access to a stationary bike and/or treadmill so that your exercise could be more controlled? We may sound like overly protective mama hens but our goal is greater than getting back to work quickly. Proper healing of this surgery will affect your whole life, so please be patient. You are so correct in saying only you can say how you feel. So don't be too surprised if some days you can't quite make it a full 4 hours. Also be sure to take breaks, move around, lean back and relax the neck and shoulders.

Do you plan to participate in impact sports? Want to guess what our advice is about that...at 3 months post op? Just remember the small new roots that are growing and getting stronger. The first of my fusion was just visible on an x-ray at 3 months, so that's not the time to test it.

Many people have had this surgery and done well. Too many others have continued to have pain. I expect you will be in the first group. Keep on being careful and watching out for yourself.

I just joined this forum today, so haven't read past threads on this topic yet, but I wholeheartedly agree with all the previous responses to your post. I had c-5-6 and 6-7 fusion in 2005 and am one of those still suffering with chronic pain. I don't want to scare you or be discouraging, but I agree the most important thing is listen to your body! Only you know how it feels.

My surgeons kept thinking I should be better after a month or two, and while the fusion seemed to be doing better and I got the neurological function of my arm back and the searing burning pain in my neck and arm subsided, I too had different pain on the other side of my neck after surgery. It was more like burning muscular pain and I couldn't hold my head up for more than 15 minutes many days.

I was one to push push push, and it certainly didn't help. It turns out I developed myofascial pain syndrome (MPS), so something different was going on besides just healing from surgery. I don't know if the surgery triggered the MPS, or the initial acute pain from a ruptured disc before the surgery did it, but It wasn't until 8 months after my surgery that I finally saw a physical medicine and rehab doc who diagnosed my MPS. Not until then did I discover that MPS can sometimes be triggered by surgery (or other traumas, too). Anyway, just listen to your body.

After about 3 weeks I did very minimal work from home and I still couldn't sit at the computer. I too had a job where I sat at the computer all day. I think it was after about four months when I finally started working more but I still had to take frequent breaks and rest my head back in the high back chair my employer kindly bought me. And luckily my commute to work was only a 10- min drive. But I still worked at home many days so I could lie down to work (but that really wasn't a good situation since I was still in a lot of pain and wish I had listened to my body better).

But like I said, my situation was different with the MPS and I still have problems working and sitting at the computer over ten years later (in fact after 4 years of trying to continue to work in pain--a car accident in 2009 made things worse--I finally had to give up my hard-earned career). Again, I don't want to be discouraging, but just be aware of what your body is telling you and take it easy and don't over do it if it starts to hurt. Actually before it starts to hurt you need to be careful. As for exercise, I found riding a stationary bike (after 6 months for my situation) for very short periods of time was all I could do it first. I think getting the blood flowing through my body was helpful, but I still wouldn't ride for too long. (Sorry if my post is too long but I just hope my experience can help you or others). Best of luck to you!!





I have made some paragraphs in your post to make it easier to read. Some of our members have tracking problems when reading. Thanks.

Post Edited By Moderator (straydog) : 4/22/2016 8:58:37 AM (GMT-6)

Hi Frankie, I'm happy to hear things are going well I had the same surgery 8 weeks ago. I'm off all meds it only took me 3 weeks to get off all meds but other people it's takes longer just listen to your body, ween yourself off them it's much safer. Remember to take it easy at work your fusion is still new.