Question
I had a bad fall early october, landing on my chin, pushing my head back with enough force to injure my cervical spine, leaving me in severe pain and major tingling and numbness in both arms from shoulder to fingertips. Pain subsided but tingling and numbness persisted. In December I had a cervical laminectomy & decompression of C3/C4. It is now end of January and I am still having fairly major constant tingling and numbness, along with heat sensations on the right arm (cold metal feels hot). For about 3 days recently, it felt like someone plugged me into a wall socket because the tingling was quite severe in both arms. It is constant. Could the neurosurgeon have messed up? Or does this type of surgery have a very long recovery time? I'm scheduled to see the surgeon again early March. Should I continue to wait? I do have full strength in both arms, but living this way is quite uncomfortable. Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Answer
Hi Bob,
Thank you for taking time out of your schedule to share this important question about your neck pain and and associated symptoms.  Toronto Spinal Decompression patients make similar enquiries to Back Clinics of Canada on a daily basis, my heart goes out to you.  I can't imagine what you must feel even though I consult with patients regularly with these symptoms.  

First and foremost you must clarify if you are dealing with spinal cord problem or exclusively nerve root  problem. A neurologist has the capability of determining that. It appears the way you describe it that your symptoms are coming from irritation to the nerve roots,but you must rely on your neurologists opinion seeing that he presumably has all the data to make that call.  Whenever a patient undergoes a laminectomy there is a risk of traumatizing the nerve root, albeit hopefully a low risk.  If it were me I would without question obtain an MRI of the region to determine if there is a discogeninc component lingering, perhaps a herniated disc which remains irritating the nerve roots.

When you said that you had a decompression of the C3-C4 disc I presume you are referring to the laminectomy. If there was NOT a fusion or a disc implant then I would seriously consider having non-surgical spinal decompression.  I wouldn't wait another moment (if it were me), I would gain clarity what the source of this pain is and if there are no contra-indications for non-surgical decompression, and it was indicated I would definitely try it in conjunction with class 4 laser.  

Please keep me posted. If you wish to learn more about non-surgical decompression go to www.backclinicsofcanada.ca .  Would you mind taking a moment to rate my answer and consider nominating me expert of the month?

By the way, many of my patients find comfort with sleeping on a water pillow.

I look forward to hearing about your progress and pray you will be pain free soon.

Dr. Ron Nusbaum
1 855 573-5433
www.backclinicsofcanada.ca