Posts
922
Joined
8/9/2010
Location
Thompsons Station, TN
US
Edited Date/Time
9/21/2022 9:33am
A couple summers ago I decided to start Mtn Biking again and crashed landing head first on a fast downhill. Since then I’ve had issues on and off with neck pain and tingling or numbness in my arm and hands.
I had an MRI and my C5,6,7 are bulging. It’s pushing on my spinal cord and the doc said I cannot have injections due to that.
I wanted to see if anyone has had a neck fusion and if so what was your experience?
Thanks in advance!
I had an MRI and my C5,6,7 are bulging. It’s pushing on my spinal cord and the doc said I cannot have injections due to that.
I wanted to see if anyone has had a neck fusion and if so what was your experience?
Thanks in advance!
I’m having trouble finding any type of stats. The numbers or success rates are all over the place.
The Shop
My neck is fine with a small reduction in range of motion, however they went in through the front and caused damage to my throat. Swallowing food or pills is a challenge at times, the doc warned of this prior to surgery.
I'd suggest Chiropractic and physical therapy first. Surgery last.
If you have to have surgery, there are a lot of options now for disk replacement that look promising.
Took 6 months to fully recover and get released to ride again. But the results have been excellent. Numbness in my hands and arms is gone. Neck pain is gone. I was worried about losing range of motion. But my Doc "you have so much damage that your range of motion is toast already, so you won't lose any more". Doc was right.
Whatever you decide, good luck!
One of my best friends is very involved in the industry and just returned from doing video breakdown for Sexton and Cooper. He said once I get my results he will send them to his doc for an opinion.
There’s also a wellness center in Nashville that does spinal decompression I’m going to look into.
I’m 51 and never had any type of lingering injury. I guess I’m that guy now. Ughh…
Whether they ride or not, I think most people have something they have to deal with. We're organic. None of us are 100% perfect
Pit Row
Riding/living with the neck fusion isn’t great, but it’s also not too terrible. It hinders me a bit on the mtb and trials bike with inability to look up in most riding positions but with my injury my arms didn’t come back too well from the paralyzation so that’s more apparent to me when I ride and I even forget about the fusion sometimes on the Pitbike/moto bike.
Best of luck to you!
I’ve been up against surgery for the last 15 years, but am not doing it, unless it is my only option.
I’ve bought a plethora of traction devices over the years, I recommend the Saunders unit, which is what my PT Dr has. I go through 20 PR visits a year on my insurance and I’ve found that Cryotherapy and high grade CBD oil from Santa Cruz Medical have helped a lot with inflammation, which is what causes the pain to begin with.
They want to fuse C4-C7 and Disc replacement is only good for 2 discs.
The thing is with fusing them is the one above and the one below will eventually wear out and can possibly cause you to need more surgeries down the road. Avoid surgery as long as you can stand it, IMO
BTW- I’ve had 8 epidurals over the last 4 years and I get trigger injections 4x a year, which really help relieve the pain.
Get a 2nd opinion from another Dr, they are all “practicing”
C5-C6 disc replacement and fusion
So you’ve done yourself a mischief and ya wanna keep riding like the loosey goosey nutcase you are. Fantastic me too. I came here looking for others experience so I’ll share mine too. Im 26 so young enough, I’ve had c5- c6 fusion due to the usual problems that go with a disc protrusion; numb arm, pain and tingling from neck to fingers (my arm actually stopped working properly) all that jazz.
I had the injections, a year off work and still off, physio, rehab, copious amounts of pills, you name it I’ve tried it. I am 4 months post op and I was out on a bike maybe 3 or 4 weeks after the op! How ever I may lack functioning brain cells so I by no means recommend anyone do that but it is possible. I also had a brand new yz125 in my garage as a carrot to chase for recovery so that was an itch I needed to scratch. Anyways into it!
The gear - The first riding related bug bear I had was the HELMET, do yourself a favour and get the lightest helmet possible. It’s just common sense. I still haven’t made my mind up on a neck brace, for now I say no because of the new bio mechanics, I’m not sure how that pressure would be dispersed and with a fusion it could be more dangerous than just raw dogging. My surgeon wasn’t able to provide info on that so maybe someone who knows can chime in.
The body - Specifically train your neck. Your new focus should be supporting the neck while riding, finding the best postures, and reducing the vibrations and knocks going through your neck that are gonna make it sore. You want a neck like Mike Tyson, basically a tree trunk. I’d recommend getting into the neck strengthening and resistance training before jumping on the bike and getting ya head wobbled worse Michael Moorer. At this point one relatively minor crash can do you some serious miss justice , keep that in mind. Also the whole bio mechanics of you spine change so take that into account too. The ligaments, tendons and muscles will tighten and others will loosen it just makes your whole body a bit out of whack.
The fusion - The fusion and screws ect that is gonna take 6 months at least to bind up and a lot longer to really settle in. Don’t f with it too much. I’m not saying don’t ride I’m saying ride at a level your neck can handle NOT YOU, your neck. Think of it like a plate of plaster in your neck and the more you bounce it around the more that plaster will crack and break. You need to give it time to set properly or you’ll have a bunch of fun new problems.
The pain and the brain - ITS GOING TO HURT, reality is that it will hurt to some extent so whatever your riding limit or normal level would be drop it by at least half. Slower, more gentle and take breaks ffs and maybe don’t throw yourself over whoops and jumps for a bit. Listen to your body and stop, don’t push the pain when you know it’s screaming at you. It’s hard but you don’t want your brain to associate the bike with causing you pain so be ginger and build up. I’m expecting it to be a year or so personally realistically it could be 2 or more. Remember your brain works on association so be careful what your teaching it… ride + pain + bike = brain no like ride. It’ll start throwing pain signals as soon as the idea of a ride pops up if you aren’t careful. This is where you get that “ the thought of a ride sounds painful” yarn from that one buddy who won’t jump on a bike anymore but claims to be an absolute weapon. We all know one
The pain killers- Painkillers… Riding and painkillers can get you into a vicious cycle. If you are piling in pills to go ride or after a ride then you need to drop the level of riding down. If you love bikes you’ll settle with a putt putt, we can’t all be Kenny all the time. We want longevity. This go for anyone with any injury in sports.
The track - Look trails is gonna be a B because you might get an hour in and decide “oh shit maybe I shouldn’t be here, it really hurts” so I suggest sticking to a place where you can get off the bike and load up without an hours ride back. Go to a nice easy track and be a noob until you know where you’re at; a 3 hour blast after 6 months off might not go the way you think. The track is another ball game if you can get a nice smooth ride then do that.. if you’re like me and very likely to case a jump or shit whip yourself in the whoops then probably just take it down a notch. Avoid sand and loose terrain you don’t need to be fighting the terrain to start out. Minimise your risks, avoid the wet days, the loose dirt and sand, the rough sections and jumps until your happy it’s not gonna have you complaining to the wife like a lil b.
The reality -You have hurt yourself and are looking at options to keep you on the bike and what’s best for you going forward. I can’t ride as much as I’d like or as good as I’d like and I don’t how long it’ll be like that and for you older boys it’s gonna be even more challenging. You might be best to practice gratitude and appreciate whatever level of riding you can get. Slow down, take it easy, rest, and rehab properly. Inflammation isn’t your friend so don’t upset the neck. Happy riding and I hope anyone looking at options gets a little insight and maybe some hope of a long life of riding. I’m still sore and not 100%
Glad to hear it’s going well for you mate!
I had a C4/C5 fusion due to a shattered C4 and bruised spinal cord when I was 16. That was 20 years ago. Still so thankful for the doctor who operated.
No long lasting problems, only a lack of range and tightness if I don’t keep on top of it, seeing an Osteopath monthly helps.
Got back into riding about 5 years ago and haven’t looked back. Neck braces definitely help, even just stopping the little whiplashes every now and then!
All the disk in my neck r ruptured . I thought I was having epidural injections on my neck . Like I had on my back a week prior. The morning of my neck apt they said where doing numerous injections. You hv 2 apts of these. If the numibing agent works. 3rd apt we burn the nerves. It was ovr 12 insanely painful injections. Intense feeling of pressure & pain going in . I think the pain is ovr then the pressure increased with needle all the way in. I researched burning the neck nerves. The nerves grow back. So I canceled the rest of the apts. I had my knees & shoulder injected 3 weeks b4 the neck& the back. The neck was bad I had a big headache for days. The shoulder was in the joint I couldn’t move it for 12 days. 99- 02 I had a lot of back injections. And a few shoulder injections. So I know the routine. 2 epidural injections on my back this yr. 1st one 2 nurses held my legs down. Hit the nerve & your legs jump. 1st one didn’t last very long. 2nd one it seemed to b in a diff spot. If there 2-3 mm off there’s a difference. I was told there not replacing disk anymore. That was my plan.
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