How to do spine surgery on your neck
I’ve just been reading about spine surgery in the neck. It is amazing.
The neck, the cervical spine, can become diseased. A vertebra up there may herniate. A part of the bone might enlarge and press on nerves running up the spine. Or the spinal column could narrow around the spinal cord.
We first notice this as pain. Perhaps pain that radiates out from the neck to our shoulder or arm. Our limbs may become numb and weak.
So delicate spine surgery is called for, and this is where things get fascinating.
Surgeons cut in along the spine, remove bone which covers the spinal cord, make bigger the passageway where the nerves lie, and sometimes insert bone or metal rods into the spine to replace a weak or failing area. Many people find this procedure will leave their necks slightly stiffer than before, and used physiotherapy to try to regain their old freedom of movement. At the same time, grateful that the surgeon was able to eliminate the pain!