Luck may have something to do with it, but certainly, your surgeon's skill and expertise had a large part in the results. Most likely you had an anterior (from the front) fusion. The risk of hoarseness, loss of voice, and dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) are greater with the anterior approach.

The accuracy of health histories after car accidents has long been under suspicion. Ever since a pilot study showed that what patients reported about their past medical history and what the medical records already on file showed were two different stories.

Myelopathy refers to any problem affecting the spinal cord. this problem may be caused by pressure on the spinal cord after trauma or related to degenerative processes in the spine.

Sometimes myelopathy is a symptom of an unstable cervical spine. Surgery is needed to fuse and restabilize the affected segment. Myelopathy present before surgery is a known risk factor for a greater chance of problems after surgery.

This is the first nationwide study to look at the results of multilevel cervical spine (neck) fusion comparing an anterior approach to a posterior approach. Anterior refers to fusion from the front of the spine. Posterior is done from behind the spine.

An accurate patient history after motor vehicle accidents is important when planning the best and most appropriate treatment. Anyone with a prior history of neck or back pain may need a different approach. Social research confirms that anyone with a psychologic profile, history of alcohol or other drug use, or mental illness will likely need special attention.

There's plenty of evidence from research that joint manipulation is an effective treatment for positional neck pain. But there is more than one way to perform a thrust manipulation of the involved spine.

The spine is where the nerves go down throughout your body. At each disc level in the spine, some nerves branch out to reach different parts of the body. The higher up the nerves branch off, the higher part of the body they control.

If someone has cervical myelopathy, the compression of the neck that causes pain and disability, surgery is often done to help relieve that pressure. It is a successful surgery for many patients, although it isn't guaranteed.

This is a question that can only be answered by your mother's surgeon. There are some types of neck surgery that don't require bracing and others that leave it up to the doctor. However, there are also neck surgeries that absolutely require a neck brace or collar for a specific amount of time afterwards.

Cervical collars have been used for a long time for neck problems, such as whiplash or torticollis. They're also used for people whose discs in the neck, the cervical discs, are too weak to support their head or if they have fractures, and they're used after certain types of neck surgeries.