Hi Snowman,

I'm a 46 year old female and had a C3-C6 laminoplasty performed on September 9, 2008. I quit smoking before the procedure because smoking affects the healing process of the bones. I spent 3 months in a rigid collar, that was the toughest part of the recovery. I was very active before the surgery, but was ordered by the neurosurgeon not to do anything for 3 months. It was well worth it. I'm now in physiotherapy, to get the muscles working again. I'm almost back to my old self. I recently started working in the gardens and lifting heavy objects. The recovery takes time, you can't rush it. I got a clean bill of health from the neurosurgeon. My spinal cord was compressed to the point where there was no spinal fluid around the spinal cord. I was experiencing severe headaches for years and numbness in the right side of my body. Now, I no longer have headaches (except for the ones caused by family...lol) and no more numbness. My neck is actually stronger. Before the surgery, the surgeon was worried about my neck being jolted, for example in a car accident. I would have been paralysed immediately. I don't have to worry about that now.

I would definitely recommend the surgery. The thing is, you have to be patient during the recovery. It's very frustrating, but worth it.

Best of luck to you.

Lynn46

Hi . . .

I'm a 61 yr old male with stenosis with myelopathy, and have been told that C4-C7 should have surgery for the stenosis & myelopathy. Posterior Laminoplasty makes more sense since anterior fusion success falls off with the number of levels being fused. The challenge I see is finding a neuro or ortho who can and will perform laminoplasty. I live in the Washington, DC area, so I am astounded that I am having a challenge finding an experienced surgeon who can perform an expansion cervical laminoplasty. Did you have the same problem in locating a neuro or ortho do perform your surgeries?

Thanks,

Bob

I totally agree with lynn46. I had four levels of laminoplasty done, C3-C6. My surgery was the middle of December and I feel pretty good. I was verrrrrry careful with my recovery time and I think that made a big difference in the outcome. I also didn't wait for the surgery, once I found out the diagnosis. My surgeon said I would most likely be able to ski again, play low contact sports.... Time will tell. In response to Bob_VA, I had my surgery done at the EDITED, Minnesota. I can't say enough good things about them.
Lornell

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Hi Bob_VA

I had no trouble finding a neurosurgeon. I had my surgery done at the EDITED, Canada.

Best of luck in your search.

Lynn46

Doctors name and contact details removed by forum Moderator (paulgla). We do not permit publishing specific doctor's or institution names and contact details.

Hello all! I am now 3 wks removed from c4-c7 laminoplasty. I am a 27 year old male who found out at the age of 18 that I had conginital spinal stenosis. At the time, the doctor explained everything to me and said that it was a very mild case but could worsen as I got older. With that said of course it got worse over the years: numbness in arms, pain shooting down shoulders, etc...(never really too bad though, just annoying) Two weeks into my recovery I got the flu and made recovery that much harder. I have since recovered from the flu but my spinal stenosis symptoms seem ten times worse than before the surgery....Is this a normal part of the heeling process? My NS says it is, I just tend to freak out a little. My shoulders and arms are very week and the tingling is worse than before the surgery. I just want to ensure that this is a normal part of recovery....PLS HELP!!!!

I am 29 years old. Have a very active lifestyle. Play all sports and some extreme ones like snowboarding. i was diagnosed with severe spinal stenosis leading to spinal cord compressional. I have have left and right nerve compression as well.

I recently went through posterior cervical laminoplasty, after two years of pain. I have seen a dozen neurosurgeron who all warranted that cervical internvation was necessary asap.. but i kept holding off because i did not want to do a fusion. I had no luck getting private insurance to approve artificial disc...

Finally, I gave up and found an alternative. It's called Endoscopic Minimal Invasive surgery. If you want more info on the institute and doctors, send me a message.

long story short, I just had surgery about 5 days ago. Now in recovery state and in a lot of pain.. more so than what I started pre-surgery. but I think that's just the nature of surgery itself.

I am freaking out too because I dont know why I would be in so much pain, especially if the incision itself is only less than 2 inches and it's outpatient surgery. Surgery itself only lasted 2 hours...

I want to know the following:
1. people on this post who has had cervical posterior laminoplasty surgery, did you go with the endoscopic approach? if not, how was the surgery performed?
2. How much recovery time was needed?
3. any complications?

of course, feel free to ask me any questions too. I'm a newbie and still learning day by day.

i I just went through a cervical laminoplasty to treat my severe spinal stenosis. My diagnosis was spinal cord and nerve root compression at c5-6 level (cervical myelopathy and radidulopathy) My surgery was done via a minimal invasive approach using laser. The incision was only about 1 inch.

It's been about three weeks since my surgery and I am still recovering. I feel more pain in my hands and neck after surgery than I did before surgery. So that worries me, especially since the doctor said I should feel immediate improvement in my pain.

I took an MRI two weeks after surgery to see if there was any physical change on the compression and didn't notice any.

I understand that I need to be patient... but when should I start to expect the old pain to go away and the decompression of my spinal cord to happen?

hi... i've been recommended by my doctor to undergo laminoplasty. wayback 2006 i had a c6-c7 anterior decompression spinal fusion because of a herniated disk, with left nerve compression. 4 years after although i felt better, the numbness of my left side did not go. had mri just last nov.2010 and it showed the narrowing space between my spine and vertebrae, with disc bulges at c3 c4 and c5 now. i want to know the success rate of such procedures, especially those who had it already. i want to know also how the recovery process is and how long will it take. i'm in a really difficult situation since i'm single and my elderly father is living with me. would like to know if i could still be active after surgery... any help would be appreciated

Hello to all. I am 3 days post surgery from having a laminoplasty from c-3 to c7. I had C stenosis and was about 8mm between c3-c5. It was causing throbbing pain and numbness in both my arms. The surgery itself was one of the most painfull experiences ive ever had. I was discharged from the hospital 2 days later which was at least a day too early in my oppinion. My pain level was not exactly under control. However it is day 3 and im getting better. I have pain in my right sholder and arms which was not there before the surgery. The doctors say it likely to be from inflemation and only time will tell if it goes away. My left arm which was in a lot of pain prior to surgery is now pain free. I have a lot of muscle spasms in my legs and chest which are suppose to be normal. I will continue to make posts and my recovery progresses.

Hi,
Your story sounds exactly like mine. I was diagnosed at 40 though. I had laminoplasty in January. The Doc said there would be "some pain" directly after surgery, I was excruciating for about a two weeks and has slowly gotten better. I have axial neck pain and some sort of head ache most days but compared to the pain before surgery it's Lovely. I only take ibuprofen 800mg at bed time and soma for muscle spasms maybe twice a week.

My neurosurgeon said no limitation to activities even roller coasters are fine. My neck feels stiff always and i had about a month of physical therapy but lets face it it's better than being paralyzed from one wrong fall or a car accident.

I hope you are well

Hey all, it’s been almost 3 1/2 since my surgery and I am doing much better. The pain and numbness in my hands and arms are mostly gone. I feel it every once and a while but it’s very faint and rare anymore. Before the surgery it was every day, all day and the pain sucked! I would say the surgery was definitely the right decision but the recovery comes with a lot of pain. The pain I am having now is in my neck as promised by my surgeon. It’s a lengthy recovery and I have been getting better. Back in the gym and hoping for a full recovery. If anyone is planning on having this surgery I would say it worked for me. I’m here if you have any questions. If anyone is wondering yes that is my neck in the picture.

First of all, just wanted to say hello as a new member to this forum. Glad to be here and looking forward to getting to know some of you and learning more...

I'm really curious how any of you cervical laminoplasty (or cervical laminectomy & fusion) folks are doing??

I am considering a C2 - C7 laminoplasty to relieve multi-level congenital stenosis in my C-spine. I had ACDF (c5-7) in January of this year, which seemed to alleviate my cord compression symptoms for a couple of months, but then things seemed to get progressively worse since then.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Scott