| A couple years ago I considered having a neck fusion but chickened out. I'm back again to think about it again, as the pain and weakness are worse then ever. When I looked at this before there wasn't that much out about which way to go ... bone chips or titanium cage. Is there any new news? | 2 years 11 weeks ago | 526 |
| A couple years ago, I had a steroid injection for sciatica. It helped clear the problem up in no time. Now I'm having similar symptoms in my arm. Would a steroid injection help me? | 1 year 5 weeks ago | 571 |
| A long time ago I had a single-level disc fusion in my neck using bone graft donated by someone else instead of my own. It all went well but now I need a similar operation at a different level. My doc says the allograft isn't done much anymore. He prefers to use bone from my pelvic crest or even better, a titanium cage. What happened with the original method? It worked just fine for me. | 2 years 11 weeks ago | 442 |
| A lot of my employees complain of neck pain. I've done everything I can to make the office more "ergonomic." Is there something else I should do? | 6 years 10 weeks ago | 375 |
| About two weeks ago I had a car accident and suffered a whiplash injury. I'm still having daily headaches and neck pain that goes down my left arm. Is there any way to tell if I'll come out of this okay? | 1 year 47 weeks ago | 625 |
| About two years ago, I had a face lift and a neck tuck. I have a long neck and the cosmetic surgery smoothed out sagging skin down the front of my neck. Now I need neck surgery to remove a herniated disc. The surgeon will probably fuse the spine. Will this operation ruin how my neck looks? | 36 weeks 13 hours ago | 252 |
| After a car accident and whiplash injury, I notice my neck gets cold easily. I have to wear a scarf almost all the time. Even the slightest breeze can put my neck into spasm. Is this normal? | 4 years 18 weeks ago | 847 |
| After a cervical spine (neck) fusion I had a serious problem with swallowing. It lasted for about a month and then went away. No one seemed to know anything about it. What can you tell me? | 2 years 29 weeks ago | 1039 |
| After being diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis of the hands and feet, now I find out I have it in the neck, too. The doctor is talking surgery. I'd really like to avoid any operations. Is there any way to tell if I'd be a good person to have surgery? Maybe I would do better with just exercise. | 2 years 22 weeks ago | 498 |
| After losing strength in her left arm and having pain that keeps her up at night, my wife had an MRI of her neck. The doctor says she has a herniation of the discs between C5 and C6 and wants to operate. Are there options other than surgery? | 6 years 19 weeks ago | 1134 |
| After months of neck and shoulder pain, my aunt just found out her symptoms are caused by Pancoast tumors. What is this? | 3 years 24 weeks ago | 1279 |
| After six months of daily neck pain, my doctor sent me to a chronic pain clinic. They gave me a test called the NDI. Can you tell me what the letters stand for and what the test shows? | 3 years 37 weeks ago | 518 |
| After weeks of neck pain, I finally had an MRI. There was a tumor the size of a golf ball pressing on my neck nerves causing the problem. Why don't they make MRIs mandatory for everyone with neck pain? It could certainly save a lot of time and money spent on treatment that doesn't help. | 1 year 13 weeks ago | 806 |
| After years of neck pain, my doctor has advised me to have a cervical spine fusion. Two of the vertebrae will be held together with a metal plate and bone chips from my hip. What will this really do for me? | 3 years 6 weeks ago | 576 |
| After years of neck problems, my doctor says my neck has fused by itself. My pain is less, but I have less motion, too. Is this a common thing? | 4 years 14 weeks ago | 640 |
| All the women in my family have long necks and suffer from neck pain. I have the same
kind of neck, but so far no pain. Is there anything I can do to keep from getting this problem? | 4 years 18 weeks ago | 509 |
| An X-ray showed I have a lump in the front of my neck from a big calcium deposit. The doctor wants to do an MRI before treating me. Is that really necessary? They already know it's a calcium problem. | 1 year 15 weeks ago | 825 |
| As a young adult, I fell and hurt my neck. Over the years bone spurs have formed in that area. Now there's pressure on the spinal cord causing neck and arm pain. The surgeon has shown me two types of operations I can have to treat this problem. One is a laminaplasty. The other is a laminectomy. Which one is better? | 17 weeks 14 hours ago | 204 |
| Back in the 1960s I worked in a factory putting together cars. That's about when they started adding head rests to help cut down on whiplash injuries. I'm long since retired but it doesn't seem like there are fewer people with whiplash after car accidents. Am I right? | 2 years 16 weeks ago | 378 |
| Bummer. I had a neck fusion that failed. They took the disc out and fused the spine but I still have movement at the joint there. Is this a fluke? Did I have a bad surgeon? How often does this happen? | 2 years 22 weeks ago | 1388 |
| Can you tell me what causes calcium deposits to form in the neck muscles? I've just had a CT scan that shows a calcium build up in the front of my neck. It's making swallowing very difficult. | 1 year 15 weeks ago | 4338 |
| Could you help me think my way through a medical problem? I have lung cancer that has spread to the bones of my neck. I know my life expectancy is limited. Should I even bother having surgery to stabilize my spine? I could be gone in 6 months. | 46 weeks 11 hours ago | 544 |
| Does the speed of your car at the time of an accident make a difference in how bad your whiplash will be? | 6 years 40 weeks ago | 487 |
| Does the success rate for neck fusion surgery change depending on whether two or three levels in the neck are operated on? | 6 years 19 weeks ago | 1106 |
| Does whiplash actually change the way people move their necks, or does it only change how much they move? | 6 years 9 weeks ago | 367 |
| Eight months ago I had an ACDF to fuse my neck at C56. The X-rays show movement at that segment so I need another operation. What will they do next? | 2 years 5 days ago | 1087 |
| Eighteen months ago I had an anterior cervical spine fusion. They took the discs out at two levels and used bone from my hip to fuse the neck together. I still have severe pain most days. X-rays show movement at one level. What's the next step from here? | 2 years 22 weeks ago | 880 |
| Even though I was wearing a seat belt, I still fractured my spine in a recent car accident. What went wrong? | 33 weeks 16 hours ago | 226 |
| Even though my X-rays were normal the doctor says I have an "unstable" neck. What does this means exactly? | 2 years 34 weeks ago | 668 |
| Ever since I had a car accident I notice my neck gets stiff and I start getting a headache if I get chilled. Is this a common problem? | 1 year 47 weeks ago | 564 |
