After Neck Surgery: Craniosacral and other therapies that helped me.

Craniosacral Therapy after Surgery

I found myself with a very painful right arm due to a problem with my C5-C6 area back in December.  I received an epidural and it helped, but the pain persisted.  After about 5 weeks, I finally went in to see a neurosurgeon and he recommended surgery the next day because I had a bone spur pressing into my spine which I could see on the X-ray.   By that time, I had lost so much feeling in my thumb and pointer finger, I decided to go for it.

I have never had a broken bone or any type of surgery before, but life had caught up with me.  I was scared, but for some reason I trusted this surgeon to do a good job.  And my intuition was good.  He did a remarkable job on cleaning out between the vertebrae and putting a new plastic disk in to help me have more movement.  I did one follow up and he recommended that I get no massage, which did not surprise me as the incision needed to heal.  But his reaction to massage afterwards was very closed minded. As a massage therapist and bodyworker, I have worked with many people to help them break up scar tissue, improve circulation and relieve pain after surgery.   Massage is often helpful where other therapies don't work.

In any case, after the surgery, I felt pretty good.  I took pain medication the first few days but slowly weaned off.  I left the anterior neck area alone where the surgeon had gone in.  I allowed plenty of time for the cut to heal.  About a week later, I stopped wearing my neck brace and that is when the issues began.  My neck felt so much weaker.  The drugs were leaving my system and I felt the interior of neck feeling like a steel rod.  I started experiencing excruciating headaches and had very limited movement. The surgeon said I'd be back to normal for the most part in about 6 months.  That was not the case.

While I believe my surgeon was awesome in what he does, his work is based on the hour he spends with you. In my opinion, however, the ball can often get dropped there.  I am here to say that when you have neck or back surgery, you need to become your own advocate.  I found that his office was too busy afterward to offer good suggestions or care, so being a massage and bodyworker, I explored other options.

I listened to my body, and founds some really great tools and support to improve my healing process.  I'd like to share some of my successes.

1.  Worked with a Craniosacral Therapist and checked into my own systems daily to improve the length in my spine.

2.  Found a wonderful Structural Integration Therapist who did some fascial work with me and introduced me to working with Physical Therapy balls and rollers.

3.  Started a daily routine of using Yamuna Balls to release restrictions.  I bought a series of CD's to learn how to use the balls most effectively.

4.  After about 6 months, I visited a Physical Therapist and started working with some exercises she gave me.

5.  Received chiropractor treatments and started using an in home traction kit to help align my spine.

I took the lead in my self-healing process because nobody knows my situation better than me.  Now, I am feeling much stronger, finding a greater range of motion, correcting postural issues that arose from the whole situation and feeling pretty great.  However,  I do realize now that I have had a surgery, that it does take time, following your instincts, and exploring different modalities to find that best treatment plan for each individual.  But I will say that the Craniosacral System improved much with the above treatments and I am very grateful that I knew which questions to ask and what people to visit.  Too often I have seen clients come in who never did anything after surgery and had been living in pain for too long.

This is my journey.  I am back to the gym now, eating better, back into the flow of everything I did before.  With this,  I encourage people with neck and back issues to investigate your options of treatments. If your issues concern the spine, go try something that is focused in that area to relief the dysfunctional area.  Surgery is a great option.   I believe I made the best decision for me at the time, but consider gentle approaches if possible first and for post-care.   

Warmly,

Sharon Hartnett  LMT
www.massageincolumbusohio.com
www.columbus-craniosacral-structuralintegration.com