Anyone had neck surgery or injury and have a noisy neck? I am 7 1/2 months post ACDF C-4 through 7, corpectamy at C -6: The vertebrae have fused completely and neck feels strong. However my left forearm is slow to recover and still has some pain, though on a normal day I can make it through without pain pills.
I guess I was supposed to move my neck as much as it would permit, however I always feared something would break in there. Glad that's not the case. I asked the surgeon at a follow-up yesterday, he poked and prodded my neck and said it's probably the muscles in back of the neck. The crackles and other noises were there before my surgery and after. Guess it's just something we have to live with....
I didn't have the "snap, crackle and pop noises until after my surgery. It sounded like bones grinding together. I asked my surgeon after my 4 week follow-up. He said it is not uncommon and will go away eventually.
I just wanted to add to the snap crackle pop thing.I had a fusion done a couple years ago, and before I went back in to see the NS for my six week exam, i was hearing this kind of a crunching/snapping sound that sounded to me like bone scraping bone kind of sound and when I mentioned this to my NS at my six week, he said that it was the bone graft still scraping a little against the vertebrae end as my neck had not yet started to fuse real well yet.So he sent me home with instructions to wear the collar for another two weeks and then I could go with out it.I asked him if I needed another follow up and he said that he didn't think it was nessecary as the bone would eventually fuse and i would be fine.So, i left his office and never expected to be seeing him again.Well, i was wrong.I had had the surgery in march,and went back to work in april and just assumed that every thing was fine.Except I was still hearing that same scraping sound as before.I worried about this as my pain seemed to be getting slightly worse not better but kept thinking that eventually the scraping would go away.To make a very long and nightmarish story short.i ened up going through the entire summer working in a rather physically demanding job with basically a broken neck,as the vertebrae never fused and my NS would not believe my complaints until Oct when he finally had me do a simple flexion and extention X-ray which showed that instead of the boney prominences all flowing together when the neck was bent forward(like a nice fan display,)mine had a v shape in the middle that showed the two vertabrae that were supposed to be fused together clearly seperated.So he immediatlly went on and on how i have to get into surgery within a week or two as we have to place hardware there to hold those two vertebrae together.I am just sitting there thinking "well, if you would have actually listened to just what the heck I was telling you like around seven months ago and all summer, we could have had this all taken care of and I would be at work again".i had ended up having to take yet another leave from work the last two months due to the constantly increasing pain levels and numbness in my arms and neck.Everytime that bone plug would shift around in my neck,I could tell as my symptoms would kind of change sides.It was really bizarre.I urge you to get a flex and ext X-ray if there is ever even the least bit of doubt about whether or not your neck is fused.It is just a simple set of X-rays that can be done right in your primarys office and brought with you to your NS for him to see.But you know immediately whether or not it is actually fused or not.No waiting for any radiology reports or anything like that.I am still dealing with the aftereffects of the hardware placement.He really screwed that up too,but I'll save that for another day.Hope this helps.Take care, Marcia
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3-22-01,herniated C-6-7
11-20-01,placement of hardware for failed fusion
9-22-03,removal of cavernous hemangioma that was inside spinal cord. Neuro damage to L hand L leg and R leg.
Another person with a corpectomy! That's unusual. I had a C5 & C6 corpectomy (fused C4-C7) almost 2 years ago and a C3/C4/C5 laminaplasty 3 months ago. My neck had been making noises before any of the surgeries, but really started to crunch after the corpectomy. It hasn't been getting any better either. I've been living with the noise for 2 years now, and I guess it'll continue for the rest of my life. The physical therapist I was seeing said it was the bone spurs at the vertebrae adjacent to the fusion. There is more stress placed on the adjacent joints after a fusion, which is why I ended up with the second surgery.
Anyway, both the physical therapist and all the surgeons (ortho and neuro) and my primary care doctor all agree - it's making noise and will probably continue to make noise. I just have to learn to ignore it and hope it doesn't lead to another surgery.
Good luck with your healing. I hope the noise does go away. Maybe mine will too, someday....
Anyone had neck surgery or injury and have a noisy neck? I am 7 1/2 months post ACDF C-4 through 7, corpectamy at C -6: The vertebrae have fused completely and neck feels strong. However my left forearm is slow to recover and still has some pain, though on a normal day I can make it through without pain pills.
I guess I was supposed to move my neck as much as it would permit, however I always feared something would break in there. Glad that's not the case. I asked the surgeon at a follow-up yesterday, he poked and prodded my neck and said it's probably the muscles in back of the neck. The crackles and other noises were there before my surgery and after. Guess it's just something we have to live with....
I Had a C5-C6 Anterior Discotomy with fussion (no hardware, just neck brace for 8 weeks)back in July of 2003. I too have the same symptoms. I also felt a very bad crack and immediate pain in my neck about a month ago and it felt like my vertabrae had broken in two. Both my Neurologist and Neurosurgion told me the MRI on Jan 26 th 2004 showed the fussion was iffy and there would be some noise, The physiotherapist told me it was scar tissue.( the NS told me I had very little scar tissue ).
We know our own bodies better than anyone else and should listen to our instincts.
Thanks to a message posted on this board, I learned to demand the flexion and extension xray. Both my guy's agreed it was a good idea. I had it done yesterday and am waiting to hear the results. Many of us have Osteophytes (Small bone growths) that can, a do break off. However you should never take the chance that an osteophyte is the culpret, especially when it comes to your neck stability....demand a flexion and extension xray to make absolutly sure it was not the fussion letting go. Look at it this way, you are worth more than the cost of that xray. And if you are stressed about the noise then your body will not heal as fast anyway.
Re: Snap, Crackle, Pop 
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