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Off-Topic Anyone dealt with loss of strength due to pinched nerve (cervical radiculopathy)

So, after a 2 week course of dexamethasone 8mg (coming off of that was incredibly unpleasant - totally wasted for about 4 days) I am mostly restored. No MRI since I'm not a surgical candidate.


Multiple relapses/recurrence is somewhat rare for degenerative disk patients, so my case is atypical according to neurologist. Aside from some increased numbness in my right fingers and a notable loss of strength in my pushups I seem to be OK.
 
Well, after trying pretty much everything, my surgery got approved. Should be coming up in soon. I have my pre-surgery and surgery dates
So, this is the rundown:

20930 Allograft, morselized, or placement of osteopromotive material, for spine surgery only (List separately in addition to code for primary procedure)

20936 Autograft for spine surgery only (includes harvesting the graft); local (eg, ribs,spinous process, or laminar fragments) obtained from same incision (List separately in addition to code for primary procedure)

22600 Arthrodesis, posterior or
posterolateral technique, single level; cervical below C2 segment

22614 Arthrodesis, posterior or posterolateral technique, single level; each additional vertebral segment (List separately in addition to code for primary procedure)

22842 Posterior segmental instrumentation (eg, pedicle fixation, dual rods with multiple hooks and sublaminar wires); 3 to 6 vertebral segments (List separately in addition to code for primary procedure).
 
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^^^^Continued from above. For some reason it kept putting lines through my text.

63045 Laminectomy, facetectomy and foraminotomy (unilateral or bilateral) with decompression of spinal cord, cauda equina and/or nerve root,

63048 Laminectomy, facetectomy and foraminotomy (unilateral or bilateral) with decompression of spinal cord, cauda equina and/or nerve root,
 
^^^^Continued from above. For some reason it kept putting lines through my text.

63045 Laminectomy, facetectomy and foraminotomy (unilateral or bilateral) with decompression of spinal cord, cauda equina and/or nerve root,

63048 Laminectomy, facetectomy and foraminotomy (unilateral or bilateral) with decompression of spinal cord, cauda equina and/or nerve root,

Are all of these procedures scheduled for the same operation, or is this a progression to be done if the arthrodesis doesn't fix the issue?

Best of luck, as mentioned I am not a surgical candidate but I wouldn't hesitate to have it done if my symptoms were severe enough to satisfy the insurance company reqs.
 
Good luck with all those HM - keep us updated
Thanks! Surgery is on the 22nd.
Just finished setting up an app on my phone that the neurosurgeon's practice uses to track my progress. Think it's called Recovery Coach or something like that.

I'm definitely ready to get going with the post surgery PT and get back to my weights. I know they'll be baby weights at first, but it will be nice to see some progress.
 
At the pre-surgery visit yesterday, they said I would be under general anastethia/in surgery for ~ 5 hours, then have an overnight stay. Not looking forward to the Foley catheter but it should be inserted and removed while I'm still under.

Sure hope this does the trick because my left biceps and grip is getting worse quickly.

Definitely have met my out of pocket max.
I'm well stocked on lots of fresh veggies, lean protein, and a few slabs of steelhead trout. Also, well stocked with supplements to encourage healing.

Looks like it will mainly walking for the first few days, Fortunately, I have a decent treadmill in my shop gym, so I'll have a decent surface to walk on.

Not looking forward to the weight limitations during healing, but I'll swallow my pride for the sake of healing and hopefully recovery!

Appreciate y'all letting me jump into the forum and post. I'm a member at a couple of other PL'ing/BB'ing forums, but there's so little dialogue online about this condition.
 
Hello from me again. I was delaying writing an update hoping to say that I am completely recovered but that didn't happen (yet) so I'll just write the facts.

It's been 13 months since the first symptoms occurred. I had numbness, tingling, twitching, pain, loss of strength, atrophy in triceps, pec, and lat on the right side. Most of the symptoms got better in the months before the surgery and some completely disappeared after the surgery.
I had surgery (ACDF C6/C7) 8 months ago.

Went back to the gym 6 months ago and slowly increased the intensity of my training.

BAD
- my tricep and pec on the right side are still weaker and smaller. They got stronger but they are still behind my left side. Lat is also weaker but the size difference is negligible.
- what is the most worrying is that these muscles still don't fire like the other side. I can't 'bounce' my right pec, the contraction is different, especially the upper part of the pec. At this point this probably means permanent nerve damage.
- I can't feel the pump in the affected muscles while working out because of denervation.
- muscle soreness lasts longer in the affected muscles especially in triceps.
-I often feel discomfort in shoulder and back because of surgery, hopefully it's because I am still healing...

GOOD
- In 5-6 months of training I managed to get 15+ lbs of muscle which is quite impressive considering that I am still recovering while training.
- Damaged muscles are also growing in size even though I can't contract them properly. Pec looks better, triceps is bigger and not so soft to the touch like it used to be.
- my numbers are around 70-80% of compared to the other side, and some exercises like pull ups are almost the same, not as lopsided as they used to be. Bench suffered the most, followed by rows and OHP but all are getting better slowly.
- Even if nerves don't recover completely as they rarely do, there is something called compensatory hypertrophy which means that remaining muscle fibers will get stronger and take over the functions of the dead ones. Human body is amazing.
- As long as I am seeing progress, however small, I am happy and hopeful.

There are a lot of conflicting information about this condition online and among doctors as well. You will find no concrete answer how to rehabilitate this as some advise against training, some are recommending it. Some swear by low reps high intensity training and the others suggest high rep low intensity.
This is both physical and psychological struggle so don't be ashamed to ask for help.
I will keep writing updates, maybe again in couple of months if I see some changes. Good luck to everyone.
 
Hello from me again. I was delaying writing an update hoping to say that I am completely recovered but that didn't happen (yet) so I'll just write the facts.

It's been 13 months since the first symptoms occurred. I had numbness, tingling, twitching, pain, loss of strength, atrophy in triceps, pec, and lat on the right side. Most of the symptoms got better in the months before the surgery and some completely disappeared after the surgery.
I had surgery (ACDF C6/C7) 8 months ago.

Went back to the gym 6 months ago and slowly increased the intensity of my training.

BAD
- my tricep and pec on the right side are still weaker and smaller. They got stronger but they are still behind my left side. Lat is also weaker but the size difference is negligible.
- what is the most worrying is that these muscles still don't fire like the other side. I can't 'bounce' my right pec, the contraction is different, especially the upper part of the pec. At this point this probably means permanent nerve damage.
- I can't feel the pump in the affected muscles while working out because of denervation.
- muscle soreness lasts longer in the affected muscles especially in triceps.
-I often feel discomfort in shoulder and back because of surgery, hopefully it's because I am still healing...

GOOD
- In 5-6 months of training I managed to get 15+ lbs of muscle which is quite impressive considering that I am still recovering while training.
- Damaged muscles are also growing in size even though I can't contract them properly. Pec looks better, triceps is bigger and not so soft to the touch like it used to be.
- my numbers are around 70-80% of compared to the other side, and some exercises like pull ups are almost the same, not as lopsided as they used to be. Bench suffered the most, followed by rows and OHP but all are getting better slowly.
- Even if nerves don't recover completely as they rarely do, there is something called compensatory hypertrophy which means that remaining muscle fibers will get stronger and take over the functions of the dead ones. Human body is amazing.
- As long as I am seeing progress, however small, I am happy and hopeful.

There are a lot of conflicting information about this condition online and among doctors as well. You will find no concrete answer how to rehabilitate this as some advise against training, some are recommending it. Some swear by low reps high intensity training and the others suggest high rep low intensity.
This is both physical and psychological struggle so don't be ashamed to ask for help.
I will keep writing updates, maybe again in couple of months if I see some changes. Good luck to everyone.

Nice work!
Yes, you can recover a lot of function. The muscles get bigger, I'd swear some of the off-line motor units get recruited peripherally by intact nearby nerves.

And double yes, there is precious little in the way of guidance for best practices, this thread is a great resource. I found initially a lot of work to failure at any loading helped to "wake the muscles back up" that were bordeline, some may never come back, but the only way to find out is to train like you expect them all to.

To this day I am stronger by nearly 10% when doing pushups variations simply by raising my chin and looking ahead instead of down - this among a bunch of other on again/off again symtoms.

Best of luck, sounds like the boat is moving in the right direction.
 
Wow, finally getting around to updating this. I had my surgery on 6/22, ended up staying for 3 nights until the drain from the incision could be removed.

What the insurance approved and the actual surgeon's notes were are slightly different, so I'll list what they did.

C-2 through C-7 laminectomies. Hardware consisting of a support, link, and 20+ screws. Fusion of C-3 through C-6.
The incision took 20+ staples to close, but healed nicely. I think the cross friction massage helped with that. (A Dr. from my past turned me on to that).

The pain and crazy sensations have abated. I was cleared to start PT on 7/7. I had planned to use a local facility that I had been working with prior to surgery since my neurosurgeon's office is over 77 miles round trip. The case manager at that office pretty much flat out lied after wasting 3 weeks of my time by saying I couldn't start PT for 6 weeks.

I called my neurosurgeon's office and they are pursuing this since the PT practice tried to say that was the protocol they were given. I've seen the protocol the neurosurgeon provided and am pretty sure that the 6 week BS is just some Google ninja info the case manager threw out there. I've recently heard he had gotten to be notorious for overbooking. I think there may be an ethics issue, but other than giving my neurosurgeon's practice all of my documentation, I'm staying on the sidelines unless my neurosurgeon needs more information from me.

My neurosurgeon referred me to a PT practice that I like much better. PT is a challenge, but the discomfort from the PT is a good discomfort. Muscles that haven't fired for a long time are firing although the left biceps and deltoid are weak.

Mentally ready to go back to work, but it will be early September before I'm released. Will be wearing this dang rigid cervical collar until the end of September. After that I plan to shoot it, rig it for demo, and burn anything that remains.

I've had a couple of surgeries in the past, but I will say this is one of the more difficult ones.

Hopefully, long term I'll regain a great deal of my strength. Also in the surgeon's notes listed in MyChart, they mentioned applying current at several locations to see how well the nerves could enervate the muscles. According to the neurosurgeon, if all goes well, I should see the final results in ~ a year. Been one heck of a ride up to this point.


Edit: Since I had to stay multiple days, I was awake for the removal of the Foley. :(
 
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Hello everyone,

First I would like to thank you all for the greats posts in this thread. I have learned alot about my condition just by reading all your comments.

I have been going through a neck injury for almost 3 years now and counting. What happened was that I feel on my head in practice which caused a pinched nerve to occur between C5/C6.
In the begining I did not take the injury serious at all (This is because I am a moron). I just thought this thing is going to pass by itself and I did not know anything about nerve damage.

When I met my fysio in January this year to start fixing my neck I was in such a poor shape that I could not even use a fork with my hand becaues of the pain.
Now it's been 9 months and I must say things have changed for the beter. Now I am able to train and have gone from 166 to 200 pounds. I still got alot of work ahead of me, but things are improving everytime I exercise.

I am going to give you my best advice and what this journey has thought me.

- Get a great pillow. I have this one Amazon product ASIN B005WKFWHO (It's expensive, but your neck will thank you.)

- Buy an reuseable icepack. Whenever you have just the slightest of pain, then ice the area and use a cloth to avoid directly touching your skin (15-20 minutes max).

- If you have a neck injury sleep with the arm along your body, instead of bending your arm as this will cause more pain. Try to hold it as straight as possible, this worked great for me in the begining to be able to get sleep.

- Change your diet. I cut of all proccessed food and sugar, dieary, gluten. Try to find some great supplements and eat healthy, this will shorten your injury time for sure.

- Train every 48 hours. In this stage where I am at now is all about building that muscle back and training the muscles everyday is great in the begining but as you progress you want to to build mass.

- It takes time, alot of time. I've had multiple events where i felt things change for the beter. But it's usually months between the improvements.

- I did not take any pain killers. In the begining I maybe should had done that, but I wanted to actually get healthier and not just take medication to ease it for the moment.

- Avoid everything that causes irriation to the nerve. Some things I would love to do and can't still because of the injury.


Most of this has been covered in the thread before. And I am really greatful to have read so many great forum threads about nerve injury.
They have thought me more about this condition then any doctor ever did.

If you have any questions, send me a pm.

/Ceen
 
Howdy, Ceen, it's incredible how much effect nerves issues can have on your body, isn't it? It sounds like you are recovering well. Currently, I'm still in PT, but back at work on light duty. Progress is measured in 1lb. increments or a few more reps, but I'll soon be totally cleared for leg training. No back squats for a long time, but I'll be using the heck out of my angled leg press for presses, hack squats, reverse hacks, etc. Soon I think I'll have enough nerve response in the left arm to begin pressing again.

I agree a good cervical type pillow is a must!!

I an constantly icing, so I'll post up a recipe a PT gave me ages ago when I ruptured a shoulder bursa. Hopefully, it will help someone else! :)

Take a 1 gallon ziploc bag. Add 1 part rubbing alcohol to 3 parts water so that the bag is 1/3 to 1/2 full. Close bag securely. Place this ziploc bag inside another ziploc bag and close this bag securely also. Place the whole mess in the freezer and in a few hours, it should turn into a nice, slushy mixture. Use the icy mix until it melts and then return it to the freezer to make it slushy again.
I kept several made up and used them throughout the day whenever I needed it.

Note: If the bag doesn't such up after 5-6 hours, you've probably used too much rubbing alcohol. The ratio of 1 part rubbing alcohol to 3 parts water is critical.
 
Hi guys. Glad to have found this post.

I’m 40 years old. My journey started in March 2020. I hadn’t been in the gym for about 4 weeks (felt in the best shape of my life to that point). I was doing some exercises at home. Hit the gym one day, did some shoulder shrugs with the trap bar among other things (3x12 with 65kg, equal to body weight). Felt fine. Returned home and had this brilliant idea; how about I take an elastic band, wedge one end in the door, then take the handle, put it in my mouth and start pulling, tilting my head back? 3x12. Gotta work those neck muscles, right! Went to bed satisfied, feeling fine.

Woke up next morning, my head wouldn’t move at all. Zero, nil. The slightest movement brought on excruciating pain. Thinking I slept funny, I rolled out of bed, got dressed as best I could and went to work. I thought it was a pinched nerve, should be fine in a few days.

Then it got worse. Scapula, rotator cuff, lats, rombhoids, tricep, forearm, they all burned as hell. Couldn’t stretch my arm at all from the pain. A&E diagnosed a pulled muscle and sent me home with pain killers (didn’t have radiating pain down my arm at this point). The lady doctor said they don’t do MRIs in A&E. I was first seen by an orthopaedic nurse 10 weeks in from the start of symptoms, still in excruciating pain. She diagnosed radiculopathy, and asked for an MRI, which I finally had in June 2020. She never referred me to a surgeon. MRI showed two large herniations, C6 C7, and multilevel degenerative changes. Still no surgery.

The pain lasted unabated till November (7 months). I’ll still get a jolt occasionally if I do somethi funn, or a jerking movement. A few weeks in, I couldn’t do a single push-up, the elbow would just give. Now I can do 10. Second MRI IN April 2021 showed the same, plus osteophyte formation (spondylosis). At some point in March I was offered surgery, but they can’t guarantee it will fix my symptoms. Current symptoms include weakness in shoulder, tricep, lats and forearm, and most importantly lack of manual dexterity. I will drop things often, difficulty using phone, keys, peeling fruit etc. Had anyone had that? It started around March, I think, it gets better with gripping exercises, but the improvement feels transient.

I’ve also had an EMG in April which showed varying degrees of chronic denervation, worse in triceps and forearm. I’ve been reading a lot about denervation and reinnervation, and I think I’m past the point where surgery would help reverse it. Any thoughts?

P.S sorry for the long post.
 
Don't write off surgery yet, IMO. My cervical radiculopathy was going on for about 7 months before I was originally scheduled for surgery, then Covid delayed it another 1.5 years. Now, post surgery,I'm slowly recovering. Nerves can regenerate, it just does it t a very slow pace.
 
Don't write off surgery yet, IMO. My cervical radiculopathy was going on for about 7 months before I was originally scheduled for surgery, then Covid delayed it another 1.5 years. Now, post surgery,I'm slowly recovering. Nerves can regenerate, it just does it t a very slow pace.
Hi Highmileage

What made you a surgical candidate? i assume the pain was gone at that point. Was it weakness?
What do you think the biggest benefit from your surgery was? Did it do anything about weakness? Tight muscles? Posture?
i find I’m at he worst in the mornings when I wake up. The left arm just feels like it’s flailing. Weak shoulder, elbow etc
 
Howdy, Ceen, it's incredible how much effect nerves issues can have on your body, isn't it? It sounds like you are recovering well. Currently, I'm still in PT, but back at work on light duty. Progress is measured in 1lb. increments or a few more reps, but I'll soon be totally cleared for leg training. No back squats for a long time, but I'll be using the heck out of my angled leg press for presses, hack squats, reverse hacks, etc. Soon I think I'll have enough nerve response in the left arm to begin pressing again.

I agree a good cervical type pillow is a must!!

I an constantly icing, so I'll post up a recipe a PT gave me ages ago when I ruptured a shoulder bursa. Hopefully, it will help someone else! :)

Take a 1 gallon ziploc bag. Add 1 part rubbing alcohol to 3 parts water so that the bag is 1/3 to 1/2 full. Close bag securely. Place this ziploc bag inside another ziploc bag and close this bag securely also. Place the whole mess in the freezer and in a few hours, it should turn into a nice, slushy mixture. Use the icy mix until it melts and then return it to the freezer to make it slushy again.
I kept several made up and used them throughout the day whenever I needed it.

Note: If the bag doesn't such up after 5-6 hours, you've probably used too much rubbing alcohol. The ratio of 1 part rubbing alcohol to 3 parts water is critical.
Hello,

For me it's incredible how much we can endure and come back from. I am so happy right now that my body is actually recovering.
I feel like a science project sometimes that tryout different types of tools and exercises to heal my nerves.
What I use is a ice pack that you can refreeze. But I maybe will try that recipe you put in your post :)

/Ceen
 
Hi guys. Glad to have found this post.

I’m 40 years old. My journey started in March 2020. I hadn’t been in the gym for about 4 weeks (felt in the best shape of my life to that point). I was doing some exercises at home. Hit the gym one day, did some shoulder shrugs with the trap bar among other things (3x12 with 65kg, equal to body weight). Felt fine. Returned home and had this brilliant idea; how about I take an elastic band, wedge one end in the door, then take the handle, put it in my mouth and start pulling, tilting my head back? 3x12. Gotta work those neck muscles, right! Went to bed satisfied, feeling fine.

Woke up next morning, my head wouldn’t move at all. Zero, nil. The slightest movement brought on excruciating pain. Thinking I slept funny, I rolled out of bed, got dressed as best I could and went to work. I thought it was a pinched nerve, should be fine in a few days.

Then it got worse. Scapula, rotator cuff, lats, rombhoids, tricep, forearm, they all burned as hell. Couldn’t stretch my arm at all from the pain. A&E diagnosed a pulled muscle and sent me home with pain killers (didn’t have radiating pain down my arm at this point). The lady doctor said they don’t do MRIs in A&E. I was first seen by an orthopaedic nurse 10 weeks in from the start of symptoms, still in excruciating pain. She diagnosed radiculopathy, and asked for an MRI, which I finally had in June 2020. She never referred me to a surgeon. MRI showed two large herniations, C6 C7, and multilevel degenerative changes. Still no surgery.

The pain lasted unabated till November (7 months). I’ll still get a jolt occasionally if I do somethi funn, or a jerking movement. A few weeks in, I couldn’t do a single push-up, the elbow would just give. Now I can do 10. Second MRI IN April 2021 showed the same, plus osteophyte formation (spondylosis). At some point in March I was offered surgery, but they can’t guarantee it will fix my symptoms. Current symptoms include weakness in shoulder, tricep, lats and forearm, and most importantly lack of manual dexterity. I will drop things often, difficulty using phone, keys, peeling fruit etc. Had anyone had that? It started around March, I think, it gets better with gripping exercises, but the improvement feels transient.

I’ve also had an EMG in April which showed varying degrees of chronic denervation, worse in triceps and forearm. I’ve been reading a lot about denervation and reinnervation, and I think I’m past the point where surgery would help reverse it. Any thoughts?

P.S sorry for the long post.
Hello,

My injury is probably not as severe as yours. But I could not cut onions or do anything at all with my right arm.
Had so much pain that I did not sleep some nights. Surgery is always a option, but I must ask are you doing any fysioi, accupuncture or adjustments with chiro?

Improvements for me happened over months, I never saw change in weeks between.

/Ceen
 
Hello,

My injury is probably not as severe as yours. But I could not cut onions or do anything at all with my right arm.
Had so much pain that I did not sleep some nights. Surgery is always a option, but I must ask are you doing any fysioi, accupuncture or adjustments with chiro?

Improvements for me happened over months, I never saw change in weeks between.

/Ceen
Hi Ceen,

Glad to hear you're improving.
In all honesty, I probably did nothing about it for the first 12 months or so, apart from the occasional painkiller, and trying to stretch as best I could. I carried on working as normal as well. A few months ago, I decided to take some time off and have some second (3rd, 4th etc) opinions. So, I was seen by a physiatrist who performed another EMG on all 4 limbs and said that my nerves are fine apart from a small residual chronic dysfunction on C6 and then diagnosed tendinopathies at the elbow and rotator cuff from overuse and had me do some physio (ice, currents and massage) every day for 4 weeks. Also started a training program with light weights to strengthen the tendons for about 3 weeks. Other orthopaedics and physios said that I don't have tendinopathy, and it has to do with the nerve.
So I've started physio under a different guy, the last 4 weeks, once a week. He also gave me a different exercise program, all body movements, no weights.
Last week he was on holiday, so I saw a sports therapist. She had a good look at me, took some measurements (hips etc) and discovered many significant muscle imbalances. So, she gave me ANOTHER program, which I started 2 days ago. It's going to be in phases, addressing the muscle imbalances and posture before moving on to strength.

When you say you couldn't cut onions, was that because your fingers wouldn't coordinate, or was it because of the pain? I find it hard to use my fingers (it's slowly getting better).
 
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