Cervical fusion

[Dave7691]

Hi,
Just throwing a question out there has anyone had a C6-7 disk removed and fused from a herniated disk ?
Im about to have that done how was your recovery and has it affected your riding ?
I really don't have an option it has to be done . I have a great surgeon and in pretty good health , plus being retired i don't have to rush through the rehab for work.

[Mazo EMS2]

No cervical work, but some lumbar fusion done. Obviously opposite ends of the ole spinal column, but I'm able to ride fine. Maintain some good upper body exercises and I bet you'll do just fine......key is not to rush it after the procedure.

[Bob Denman]

We all hope that you heal quickly and completely!
Please let us know how the situation progresses; Good Luck!

[ARNIE R]

I had my C5, C6, And C7 all fused back in 1998. Still doing good and I can bend my head sideways enough to make my ears touch my shoulders. Looking straight up has been slightly reduced but I am used to that now.

[BryanSD]

Several years ago (still in my 40's) I dealt with a problem where the primary nerve for my left arm was being squeezed in my neck near C6/C7 causing pain and weakness in my left arm. The procedure I had was a microdiscetomy and foraminotomy which basically means the neurosurgeon enlarged the window of the disc with a laser near the nerves leaving the spine for the arm. Probably much less invasive than what you will be going through with the surgery you described. Your riding won't be the same, but you'll adjust just as long as you give yourself time to heal and do your exercises. The first couple weeks, it feels like someone punched you the neck but in my case it was still a lot less pain than I had the year before surgery.

In my case, it was a bicycle not a motorcycle that I spent a year getting comfortable to ride due to the required bend of the neck. However, I don't think I'd be riding a bicycle or a Spyder today if it wasn't for the surgery. I wish I would have done the surgery sooner as I was on a lot of pain meds before the surgery. After the surgery, I took nothing but ibuprofen. The nursing staff was surprised I didn't opt for the hydrocodone but I wanted to know the recovery ahead was real and not masked by pain meds. Today, I can bicycle 40 miles without an issue and riding a Spyder is easy. About the only thing I can't do is push-ups which is OK because you don't need to do push-ups to drive a Spyder!

[Dave7691]

Thank you for your thoughts and advice well I went through the surgery yesterday . Everything went great so the worse is behind me now . Time to mend and get strong allways up for a challenge thanks again see you in the wind.