Patient Stories

Shoulder Blade and Trap Pain After Cervical Fusion

Shared by real patients preparing for or recovering from neck surgery. A common question in cervical fusion recovery groups is whether surgery helped the pain across the traps and between the shoul...

Walking Unassisted the Same Day as Neck Surgery

Shared by real patients preparing for or recovering from neck surgery. Recovery communities naturally collect hard stories. That makes the positive ones important too, as long as they are not turne...

When a 29-Year-Old Needed Emergency Neck Surgery With No Injury

Shared by real patients preparing for or recovering from neck surgery. She was 29, active and could not point to a car accident, fall or other single injury. Yet within weeks of severe symptoms, sh...

Sharp Pain Between Your Shoulder Blades After Neck Surgery

Shared by real patients preparing for or recovering from neck surgery. Eight weeks after neck surgery, one woman described a daily sensation like a knife in her upper back near the lower neck. She ...

What a Second Neck Fusion Surgery Really Looks Like

Shared by real patients preparing for or recovering from neck surgery. You made it through neck surgery once. Then new imaging leads to a sentence you never wanted to hear again: you may need anoth...

Nobody Warned You About the Dentist

Shared by real patients preparing for or recovering from neck surgery. One month after neck surgery, a patient remembered she had a routine dental cleaning scheduled. Suddenly a normal appointment ...

Why Recovery Timelines Vary So Much After Neck Surgery

Shared by real patients preparing for or recovering from neck surgery. Three days after neck surgery, one woman posted a photo showing two incisions and significant bruising. A little over two week...

The Night Before Neck Surgery: What Real Patients Want You to Know

Shared by real patients preparing for or recovering from neck surgery. Someone scheduled for cervical surgery the next morning posted to a recovery group with a simple message: scared now. The resp...