Posted 9/24/2018 4:10 AM (GMT 0)
Clifton:
While your personal self-motivation to resume your roles in construction is admirable, it is admirable to a fault being as you are 13 weeks post 4 level ACFD.
That you recognize, retrospectively, that heavy lifting is not in your better interest shows your maturity and insight to proactively leverage the mistake as an opportunity for learning.
Lifting and carrying restrictions are 5-10 pounds for a minimum of 6 months post ACDF. Of course, each individual needs to heed to the post-operative guidelines of his/her surgeon.
In sifting through your narrative of the lifting event, it appears that you have (thankfully) escaped serious cervical re-injury. That you are deeply involved in commercial building/construction may have given you an advantage in understanding and applying proper body mechanics when lifting a heavy load . . bend from the knees and hips (do not bend/flex at the waist); keep the entire length of the cervical-thoracic-lumbar vertebrae in longitudinal alignment, with a slight chin tuck; use the power of the quadriceps/gluteal muscles; keep the load close to the body throughtout the arc of movement.
The weight of the load lifted is not always culpable in causing a post-op injury. Utilizing improper body mechanics or movement which is haphazard is more injury impacting. A sudden movement that employs forward flexion with rotation is at the heart of many spine/vertebral injuries. Ex. Bending at the waist and reaching to one side to pick up a coin/paperclip on the floor at an office setting is an all-too-familiar mechanism that leads to disc herniation.
That said, since you did lift a HEAVY load at 13 weeks post ACDF, it would be wise to call your surgeon’s office or write a PM to your surgeon on an availing patient portal. Your surgeon may want you to come in for a 1:1 appointment or have a precautionary CT/MRI.
If you are experiencing muscle spasms under the scapula, a good way to relieve tension is to stand about 2 feet from a wall; raise both outstretched arms to shoulder level, placing both hands/palms on the wall - as though to do a standing wall push-up. Arms out and forward upwardly rotates the scapula, uncovering the rhomboid, subscapularis, and major muscles. These three muscles are a common source of muscle tension, muscle knots, and trigger points. Have your wife/significant other/friend give a “massage” using fingertips to kneed and loosen tight/ropy points OR apply moist heat OR apply ice wither bia am ice pack or ice massage (take a small 3 oz. Dixie papercup, fill 1/2 with water, place in kitchen freezer and allow to freeze, unspiraling the papercup as you go to expose ice for ongoing massage).
Thinking of you,
Karen