How Long Does it Take to Recover from Neck Surgery?

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 Article featured on Arkansas Surgical Hospital
The time it takes to recover from neck surgery depends on several factors, including the type of surgery you have, the extent of your condition, and your overall health. Discussing your options with your surgeon will give you a clearer picture of your predicted recovery time.

Common Causes of Neck Pain

There are many causes of neck pain, including poor posture, muscle strain, herniated discs, and degenerative disc disease. Some neck pain can be treated with conservative measures such as ice, heat, over-the-counter medication, or steroid injections. However, surgery may be required if your neck pain is severe or persists for more than a few weeks.

Warning Signs of a Serious Injury

If you have any of the following signs of a serious neck injury, talk to your doctor right away:

  • Severe pain that doesn’t go away with over-the-counter medication
  • Intense headaches that are not relieved by medication
  • Loss of feeling or numbness in the arms or legs
  • Loss of coordination in the arms or legs
  • Difficulty walking or standing upright

Surgical Options for Neck Pain

If your neck pain has persisted through conservative treatment options without relief, it may be time to ask your doctor whether surgery may be the answer. Surgical options for neck pain vary by each individual and their condition. If you are unsure about what is best for you, consult with your doctor.

Some common neck surgery procedures include:

  • Fusion. In a cervical fusion surgery, two or more vertebrae in your neck are fused together, often using a plate of metal or another material. Spinal fusion stabilizes the vertebrae and reduces pain.
  • Laminectomy. Cervical laminectomy removes a part of the vertebrae called the lamina. The surgery aims to ease pressure on the spinal cord or nerves.
  • Discectomy. Like a laminectomy, a discectomy is a type of spinal decompression surgery. A cervical discectomy is the removal of a damaged disc between two vertebrae. It is often accompanied by a fusion procedure to keep the vertebrae stable.

Most people spend a few days in the hospital after undergoing neck surgery. During this time, you will be monitored closely, and you won’t be able to move your head or neck much. Once you’re home, you will need to take it easy for several weeks, so it’s important to have a support system in place. You will be able to gradually increase your activity as the pain and swelling goes away.

Recovering from Neck Surgery

Recovery from neck surgery typically ranges from one to six months, but some cases can take longer. Your surgeon will determine a more specific time frame after evaluating your condition and discussing which procedure is right for you based on your diagnosis.

In the months following your surgery, you will have follow-up appointments with your surgeon to check your progress. Each situation is unique: your recovery time depends on the type of procedure performed and the severity of the symptoms you had before surgery. The specific length of time depends on what was done during your procedure and how well it went.

Factors that affect recovery time from neck surgery include:

  • The type of surgery you had
  • How many vertebrae were affected
  • The state of your health before surgery
  • Whether you experience any complications after surgery
  • Whether you follow your doctor’s post-operative instructions

Depending on your circumstances, you may be able to return to work in a few weeks. Other patients may take as long as three months to get back to work. In general, most people fully recover from neck surgery after six months, but some patients can take up to a year or more.

There are some things you can do to help with your recovery. For example, practice good posture at all times. Always follow the instructions your surgeon gives when recovering from neck surgery.

Is Neck Surgery Right for You?

If you have tried other treatments for chronic neck pain with no relief, it may be time to consider surgery.

The Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Center of Oregon is an award-winning, board-certified orthopedic group located in downtown Portland Oregon. We utilize both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal trauma, spine diseases, foot and ankle conditions, sports injuries, degenerative diseases, infections, tumors and congenital disorders.

Our mission is to return our patients back to pain-free mobility and full strength as quickly and painlessly as possible using both surgical and non-surgical orthopedic procedures.

Our expert physicians provide leading-edge, comprehensive care in the diagnosis and treatment of orthopedic conditions, including total joint replacement and sports medicine. We apply the latest state-of-the-art techniques in order to return our patients to their active lifestyle.

If you’re looking for compassionate, expert orthopedic and podiatric surgeons in Portland Oregon, contact OSM today.

Phone:

503-224-8399

Address
1515 NW 18th Ave, 3rd Floor
Portland, OR 97209

Hours
Monday–Friday
8:00am – 4:30pm

What is Minimally Invasive Foot Surgery?

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Article featured on FootCareMD

Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) treats foot and ankle conditions and deformities using very small incisions. In these procedures, your foot and ankle orthopedic surgeon uses special instruments to cut bones under X-ray guidance and inserts screws through very small incisions. Advantages of minimally invasive surgery over traditional surgery include faster healing, smaller scars, and less stiffness. The main disadvantage is that it takes additional training and practice for your surgeon to feel comfortable performing these procedures without the traditional open visualization.

Diagnosis

A variety of foot and ankle problems, including big toe arthritis, bunions, and hammertoes, can be treated with minimally invasive surgery. Importantly, not all patients are good candidates for minimally invasive surgery, and not all surgeons perform minimally invasive surgery. If you are interested in the procedure, talk to a foot and ankle orthopedic surgeon with experience in minimally invasive surgery to see if you are a good candidate for it.

Recovery

Recovery is often faster from minimally invasive procedures compared to open procedures. Some weight-bearing can be allowed immediately after surgery, but this depends on the procedure you are having done.

Risks and Complications

The risks of minimally invasive surgery are similar to traditional, open surgeries, although the risks of infection and wound healing problems may be lower with minimally invasive surgery because the incisions are so small.

While the small incisions used in minimally invasive surgery can make it easier to damage unseen structures like nerves and tendons, research studies have not shown a higher rate of these injuries. With good technique and surgeon experience, these surgeries may even have lower risk compared to open surgeries. More research still needs to be done on these procedures to determine their risks and benefits relative to more traditional surgical methods.

The Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Center of Oregon is an award-winning, board-certified orthopedic group located in downtown Portland Oregon. We utilize both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal trauma, spine diseases, foot and ankle conditions, sports injuries, degenerative diseases, infections, tumors and congenital disorders.

Our mission is to return our patients back to pain-free mobility and full strength as quickly and painlessly as possible using both surgical and non-surgical orthopedic procedures.

Our expert physicians provide leading-edge, comprehensive care in the diagnosis and treatment of orthopedic conditions, including total joint replacement and sports medicine. We apply the latest state-of-the-art techniques in order to return our patients to their active lifestyle.

If you’re looking for compassionate, expert orthopedic and podiatric surgeons in Portland Oregon, contact OSM today.

Phone:

503-224-8399

Address
1515 NW 18th Ave, 3rd Floor
Portland, OR 97209

Hours
Monday–Friday
8:00am – 4:30pm

The Common Joint Reconstruction Surgeries

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Article featured on Movement Orthopedics

Aching and tired joints can be due to the natural aging process, playing sports, repetitive-motion injury from work or a hobby, or even from previous injuries. Degradation of the protective cartilage in a joint (osteoarthritis) and/or reduction of the lubricating synovial fluid (usually caused by rheumatoid arthritis) can cause stiff, achy, and swollen joints. This often occurs in the neck, back, shoulders, elbows, hands, hips, knees, or feet.

When less-invasive treatments – like pain-relief injections and physical therapy – do not work to relieve your joint pain, then your orthopedic doctor may recommend joint reconstruction surgery. There are different types of joint reconstruction surgery that can be performed to repair or replace the painful tissues and structures of the joint, and bio-grade prosthetic materials may be implemented to replace damaged areas of the joint.

Popular Types of Joint Reconstruction Surgery

Orthopedic medicine is constantly improving with new innovations and techniques. These are the most common joint reconstruction surgeries:

Joint Replacement Surgery

Joint replacement surgery is an orthopedic surgery that is performed to remove and replace an arthritic or otherwise damaged joint with prosthetic parts. An orthopedic doctor may conduct a partial or total joint replacement, depending on the severity of the injury or damage.

Surgeons today can perform many types of total joint replacements as an outpatient procedure, especially with the knees and hips. Total joint replacement is most often done on the shoulder, elbow, finger, hip, knee, and ankle.

Joint Resurfacing Surgery

Joint resurfacing is often recommended for younger patients who may not benefit from a total joint replacement. Orthopedic surgeons usually perform this on the hip joint, where an injury tends to accelerate damage to the joint surfaces. This is done mainly where the ends of the hip bones rub against one another and move awkwardly.

Hip joint resurfacing surgery includes filing down part of the femoral head, which is the curved top of the femur (upper leg bone) which fits into the hip socket. The orthopedic surgeon then removes the socket area and replaces it with a metal prosthetic socket to support bone integrity.

Osteotomy

Osteotomy, or bone cutting and repairing, is the process of removing a specific section of bone – usually to straighten it or to make it even with the other limb or joint. The procedure is usually performed by orthopedic surgeons on the knees, hips, or legs of younger patients, and it is often an alternative to joint replacement surgery.

The Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Center of Oregon is an award-winning, board-certified orthopedic group located in downtown Portland Oregon. We utilize both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal trauma, spine diseases, foot and ankle conditions, sports injuries, degenerative diseases, infections, tumors and congenital disorders.

Our mission is to return our patients back to pain-free mobility and full strength as quickly and painlessly as possible using both surgical and non-surgical orthopedic procedures.

Our expert physicians provide leading-edge, comprehensive care in the diagnosis and treatment of orthopedic conditions, including total joint replacement and sports medicine. We apply the latest state-of-the-art techniques in order to return our patients to their active lifestyle.

If you’re looking for compassionate, expert orthopedic and podiatric surgeons in Portland Oregon, contact OSM today.

Phone:

503-224-8399

Address
1515 NW 18th Ave, 3rd Floor
Portland, OR 97209

Hours
Monday–Friday
8:00am – 4:30pm

10 Ways To Improve Your Recovery After Surgery

10 Ways To Improve Your Recovery After Surgery

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By Jennifer Whitlock, RN, MSN, FN | Article Featured on Verywellfit

If you are having surgery, you may be interested in how you can heal faster, return to work faster, maybe even get back to the gym faster. Overall, recovering from surgery is a straightforward process of following the discharge instructions, which can be challenging for some individuals. For most surgery patients it is truly that simple. For others, healing quickly requires diligence and effort in caring for their incision, and their body as a whole, after surgery.

Here are some helpful hints for how to be the patient who heals quickly, easily and faster than the surgeon predicted.

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How to get your home ready when recovering from hip or knee surgery

How to get your home ready when recovering from hip or knee surgery

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Before you go to the hospital for surgery, set up your home to make your recovery and life easier when you come back. Do this well in advance of your surgery. Ask your health care provider or physical therapist about getting your home ready.

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A Surgeons’ Guide to Recovering From Hand Surgery

A Surgeon’s Guide to Recovering From Hand Surgery

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Article Featured on Ark Surgery Hospital

Hand surgery recovery is a delicate and often frustrating process. Be sure to follow all of your surgeon’s instruction to ensure you regain your full range of motion.

Whatever the reason for your hand surgery, you can prepare yourself by planning a hand surgery recovery timeline with the help of your orthopedic surgeon and following these helpful guidelines:

Tips for Hand Surgery Recovery

All hand surgery recovery periods last at least several weeks— and sometimes months—before you can return to your everyday activities. You can make several minor lifestyle modifications to help keep you comfortable while you are recovering.

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Activities After Hip Replacement

Activities After Hip Replacement

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Article Featured on AAOS

After having a hip replacement, you may expect your lifestyle to be a lot like how it was before surgery—but without the pain. In many ways, you are right, but returning to your everyday activities will take time. Being an active participant in the healing process can help you get there sooner and ensure a more successful outcome.

Even though you will be able to resume most activities, you may have to change the way you do them. For example, you may have to learn new ways of bending down that keep your new hip safe. The suggestions you find here will help you enjoy your new hip while you safely resume your daily routines.

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