Kyphosis? - Spinal Cord Disorders Message Board

SKZ · 11-19-2006, 10:20 AM

I did some research on Kyphosis. One time a P.T. told me I had it, but no Dr. ever mentioned it. I Know that when I look in the mirror sideways I so see a hump in the middle of my upper back under my neck. I would be interested in hearing if anyone has it and how it affects you. I know that hump hurts me and is painful. I dont know how much my c5-6 and C6-7 disk problems have to do with the hump.
Thanks!

PearlDoves · 11-19-2006, 12:38 PM

Kyphosis was part of my DX. If you decide to obtain your radiology reports: ct scans, xrays, mri - you might find that they use that terminology, or they might just plain say reversal of the normal curvature of the cervical spine or something to that extent. I know in the research that I've done on it that Kyphosis alone usually is not a reason to do surgery because it 'alone' isn't doing much but it can become unattractive looking so usually if its really bad and the patient is young some docs might do it for cosmetic reasons. If it's causing you pain and because you have those problems with the spine, I would think surgery will correct it a bit with a fusion. The fusion (I think) will help straighten and stabelize the spine so that the curve isn't so bad. In my case I think that if I hadn't had the Kyphosis, the spurring might not have bothered me so much, but after a car accident and a fall on the stairs, it did me in.

PearlDoves · 11-19-2006, 01:04 PM

To answer your question:

Surg was Nov. 7th - so I'm almost 2 weeks post op now. Surgery went very well, and I know this surgeon took good care of me. I had trouble with my legs giving out prior to surgery and by post op day 2 I think I walked close to 2 miles in the hospital, people thought I looked good even after post-op day one. But part of that is probably that I didn't get horribly sick with anesthia as well... some nausea I had some problems with swallowing, I had a bit of pain.

I am haveing some problems right now - little bit with swallowing and heaviness, and pain behind my knees and elbows - but I'm almost thinking that this is another problem in the upper neck that might need to be adressed, but I'm really not suprised because I was aware that there was a problem there before. Swallowing probs are normal after surg. So is some numbness and tingling and bad pinching pains in shoulders and such. My pain is pretty under control as long as I take my pain med.. and that I'm only taking half of a darvacet in the morning and then tylenol the rest of the day. Today I woke up with bad pinching pains... so I'll probably start taking half a darvocet at night too before I go to bed and then everything should be pretty under control.

But everybody is different, I read someone was 3 months post op and still is in bad pain. Your age can also play a factor in how well you bounce back, and how well you react to anesthesia - for example, my mom had a horrible time, she was throwing up and everything and some people feel the effects of it for months afterwards. I think for me, I might be still a bit disorientated because of it and I get a bad taste in my mouth still every so often. I hope this helps.

Also I responded to someone else in your thread about bone spurs that talks about what the surgeon actually did.