Open posterior c6c7 discectomy/laminectomy and foraminotomy

Tagged: c6 c7Open posterior c6c7 discectomy/laminectomy and foraminotomy

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Donald Corenman, MD, DC
Moderator

February 21, 2016 at 10:29 am

Post count: 8660

#21393

“Tingling” on the left side of your lower body is not normally associated with cervical symptoms unless the cord was irritated at the level of surgery (which is always possible with a herniated disc or posterior laminotomy surgery). However, if these symptoms were present prior to surgery and were not affected by surgery, the source of your lower body symptoms is most likely not from your neck. I cannot tell you the source but this could be a neuropathy (see website).

Dr. Corenman

PLEASE REMEMBER, THIS FORUM IS MEANT TO PROVIDE GENERAL INFORMATION ON SPINE ANATOMY, CONDITIONS AND TREATMENTS. TO GET AN ACCURATE DIAGNOSIS, YOU MUST VISIT A QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL IN PERSON.

Donald Corenman, MD, DC is a highly-regarded spine surgeon, considered an expert in the area of neck and back pain. Trained as both a Medical Doctor and Doctor of Chiropractic, Dr. Corenman earned academic appointments as Clinical Assistant Professor and Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and his research on spine surgery and rehabilitation has resulted in the publication of multiple peer-reviewed articles and two books.

marta77
Participant

March 17, 2016 at 8:04 pm

Post count: 18

#21614

Hello Dear Doctor Corenman,
I am back :(
I feel like I am worst nightmare of this forum with my cervical problems.
Since our last conversation I slowly was getting better. My symptoms were only during car rides ir little bit after but they were calm down few minutes after I got out.
My left hand never got better and it is veeeeeeery clamsy and motor skills are horrible but rest of the symptoms seemed to calm down… Until today. Today everything came back all the sudden. Then it calm down little when I sat and watch tv and then stared again. And its like that all day on and off. But they seem to be pretty strong.
To make it easier I will mention that I didn’t do anything different today. Same exact schedule and routine as past month.
Also what I wanted to say i woke up with left ear pain. I thought I have ear infection, pain was so strong and I was honestly planning to go with it to my primary.
At the moment when my symptoms started ear pain went away and never came back. But symptoms hold my thyroid and neck, tingling in stomach and half vagina are back as well as left hand and chest.
What happened all the sudden? My day was exactly same as past 3 weeks nothing unusual or new. Sometimes i even dont know which date it is because my days are exactly same.
Do you think that this ear pain which I had for couple of hours after I woke until symptoms came first have something to do with my neck?
Also one more thing. I noticed that when symptoms starts i experience feeling similar to muscle soreness in my front tights… Thats also very wierd…
My neurosurgeon wants to see me in one month.
He also keep telling me that I am very responsive to injury I had.
I appreciate your opinion and thoughts about what is happening.
Thaaaaank you
Marta

marta77
Participant

March 19, 2016 at 7:35 am

Post count: 18

#21617

Update to my previous post : tofay I figured out that only difference last week Iwas that i had my head down a lot when I was playing with kids legos on the floor. Today morning I was taking shower. Before shower I felt not that bad. But during shower when i was shaving my legs I had my head down a lot and immediately I experienced very very strong symptoms. What is happening?

Donald Corenman, MD, DC
Moderator

March 19, 2016 at 9:33 am

Post count: 8660

#21618

Your symptoms are not consistent with any one disorder. You could have developed a C3 radiculopathy as this nerve can cause ear pain but also many other symptoms so that diagnosis would be much less likely.

You did have a cord compression as this is the reason for your original surgery. The symptoms could still be from that compression as the cord does not heal quickly or completely.

The cord could be stretched over a spur or disc bulge as the head down position can drape the cord over an anterior protrusion.

Did you obtain a new MRI?

Dr. Corenman

PLEASE REMEMBER, THIS FORUM IS MEANT TO PROVIDE GENERAL INFORMATION ON SPINE ANATOMY, CONDITIONS AND TREATMENTS. TO GET AN ACCURATE DIAGNOSIS, YOU MUST VISIT A QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL IN PERSON.

Donald Corenman, MD, DC is a highly-regarded spine surgeon, considered an expert in the area of neck and back pain. Trained as both a Medical Doctor and Doctor of Chiropractic, Dr. Corenman earned academic appointments as Clinical Assistant Professor and Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and his research on spine surgery and rehabilitation has resulted in the publication of multiple peer-reviewed articles and two books.

marta77
Participant

March 19, 2016 at 9:54 am

Post count: 18

#21622

Not yet my neurosurgeon wants to see me in April as 4 months after surgery and evaluate and then send me to mri. My insurance won’t approve another mri that quickly.
Do you think that there is possibility my disc still sticks out a lot and cause symptoms time to time?
After surgery my neurosurgeon told me that he didn’t expect that my disc will be that hard after he opened me. He sajd he had reall6hard time to shave it all so he did his best. My surgery was 1hr longer because of it. If my disc was very hard for long time do you think it could cause pernament damage? My motor skills are very poor on left side with symptoms or without.
If i need another surgery do you think i can have revision? I reall6 dont want fusion.
I watched interview with you on you tube :) Thank you for having that forum and help

Donald Corenman, MD, DC
Moderator

March 19, 2016 at 10:17 am

Post count: 8660

#21624

i cannot comment on the potential causes of your symptoms until a new MRI is made available. There could be multiple reasons for your symptoms.

Dr. Corenman

PLEASE REMEMBER, THIS FORUM IS MEANT TO PROVIDE GENERAL INFORMATION ON SPINE ANATOMY, CONDITIONS AND TREATMENTS. TO GET AN ACCURATE DIAGNOSIS, YOU MUST VISIT A QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL IN PERSON.

Donald Corenman, MD, DC is a highly-regarded spine surgeon, considered an expert in the area of neck and back pain. Trained as both a Medical Doctor and Doctor of Chiropractic, Dr. Corenman earned academic appointments as Clinical Assistant Professor and Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and his research on spine surgery and rehabilitation has resulted in the publication of multiple peer-reviewed articles and two books.
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Donald Corenman, MD, DC

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81 reviews

Eric S

Sep 26, 2021

by Eric S on Donald Corenman, MD, DC

Successful pars repair at 46 years old

Back in November of 2018 (at 46 years old) I came from Vancouver BC to have a pars repair done with Dr. Donald Corenman at the Steadman Clinic in Vail Colorado. I'm finally posting this review nearly three years later in late 2021. The reason I waited so long was I wanted to know the final result before I posted my review. Unfortunately in that time Dr. Corenman has retired. Nevertheless, I want to post this review of Dr. Corenman and his staff at the Steadman Clinic in their excellent treatment of my L5 pars interarticularis.

I fractured my pars at age 42 back in 2014 when rolling on the gym floor, and was denied treatment by the Canadian healthcare system, probably due to my age. First my GP told me there was no surgical option for a pars defect, which was quite incorrect! I tried to live with it, but the symptoms worsened (periodic random spine slippage and weeks of resultant pain after just bending over to tie my shoe, so I eventually learned to mostly squat and hardly bend). When I finally consulted with Canadian spine surgeons, I was told they believed my pars defect had been congenital (since birth). This was absurd, considering I had done extreme martial arts (including jiu jitsu) for years prior, as well as 5 years of reinforcing steel full time in my 20s, probably the hardest job on the back you can find. No pars defect like mine would possibly have allowed this--ergo it was impossible that I had had the defect since birth. I did however have an asymptomatic congenital spina bifida occulta that made me more susceptible to a pars fracture. In 2014 in one instant, I went from having the strongest back people I knew said they'd ever seen, to being unable to safely bend over and tie my shoe without a non-negligible risk of my spine slipping randomly (which would lead to weeks of pain after each occurrence). This was due to the unilateral L5 pars defect, otherwise known as spondylolysis. It was when lying in pain on the floor 4 years later after maybe the 6th spine slippage event post injury, that I had had enough, and resolved to have surgery. If Canada's "universal health care" said no, I would make lemonade from lemons, and find the very best surgeon in the world at pars repairs. That was Dr. Donald Corenman. Dr. Corenman back in 2018 ran a website https://neckandback.com/ that dedicated many pages to the science of every aspect of pars repairs, from eligibility (good discs on MRI), to best surgical techniques (minimal open compared to minimally invasive), best imaging to use (i.e., O-Arm with Stealth imaging vs. older fluoroscopy), the ideal amount of BMP to use and why not use too much or too little, and much more, all to do with pars repairs, pages upon pages of his site just on the pars, with scientific references and his own extensive expert opinion. As a health research statistician, I was very impressed with this. It was in stark contrast to the websites of other spine surgeons which barely gave the pars a word or two, focusing almost exclusively on fusions. I had found the best surgeon in the world for pars repairs, and so after Dr. Corenman personally screened my MRI to ensure my discs were healthy, I booked the surgery.

Being 46 years old at the time of surgery in 2018, with a 4-year-old pars fracture from 2014 combined with a congenital SBO meant my pars fragment was somewhat atrophied, but it was "very solid", said Dr. Corenman in the operative report. Nevertheless, it was challenging with two things to fix, the pars and SBO, and OR time was around 4 hours. Recovery over the following months was guided by a very clear "Spine binder" from the Steadman Clinic with strict rules of "no BLT" (no bending, lifting or twisting), and illustrated physiotherapy guidelines. They even warned patients to avoid fish oil supplements, which could excessively dampen inflammation and hence slow bone healing. They answered many questions I had during months of recovery, with responses coming from the very supportive Lori Fugate (then director of Dr. Corenman's practice), and Ehrich Bean (then physician's assistant at the practice), as well as a couple calls with Dr. Corenman himself after two of the CT scans. Ehrich Bean offered great advice for taking the spine binder conservatively due to the nature of pars repairs vs. fusions. The final post-op CT scan I had was a couple weeks ago at 34 months post-op, and Dr. Corenman had retired, but I got a very positive and informative call from Eric Strauch (current PA at the Steadman Clinic under Dr. Corenman's replacement there, and who had also worked with Dr. Corenman previously). The staff at the Steadman Clinic were extremely supportive all the way through the process. I should mention, the local Canadian spine surgeon did offer me very good post-operative support including antibiotics as needed to deal with a mild surface incision-site infection early on, booking numerous x-rays when I felt something was amiss, as well as booking all four of my post-op CT scans. I am very grateful for that support also.

My final result shows plenty of solid bone across the pars and a healed SBO, with my vertebral body now a solid bone ring instead of being broken at two places as it was pre-op. Does my spine hold up in the real world? You bet! I have recently dug and moved several yards of dirt and sand and gravel by myself (shovel and wheelbarrow!) to fix our water main, pulled roots from the yard, moved several "portable" (these are HUGE) air conditioners up several flights of stairs my myself, and lifted weights. I now run 2 miles (3.2 KM) several times weekly with a hard 100 meter dash in the middle. I bend deeply before each run I go on, with no spine slippage. My spine feels amazing. I can bend over to do exercise, or real word tasks, with no risk of spine slippage.

My sincere thanks to God, Dr. Donald Corenman, Lori Fugate, Ehrich Bean, Eric Strauch, and the Steadman Clinic, as well as the Canadian spine surgeon who offered me excellent post-operative care back in Canada. You have all given me a new lease on life.

Sincerely,
Eric S

Robert S

May 11, 2021

by Robert S on Donald Corenman, MD, DC

Back Fusion Surgery

I had my entire lumbar spine fused in November of 2018. I had scoliosis , with pinched nerves that were so painful I could hardly walk - and standing for more than a few minutes was impossible. Even sitting was painful.
The fusion surgery produced immediate relief! And the recovery was much easier than I expected.
To this day I can do all the activities I love from hiking, to standing in a stream fly fishing to riding my bike long distances - or just walking down the street with my wife.
Kudos to Dr. Corenman and his staff, (including the two Erics) for taking such good care of me!

Leslie R

Jul 9, 2020

by Leslie R on Donald Corenman, MD, DC

TLIF

I had my TLIF surgery on 6/24/2020 by Dr. Corenman, I can not say enough good things about the Dr or his staff. I was always treated with respect and explained everything throughly, that made it easy for everyone to understand. I highly recommend Dr. Corenman and the Steadman Clinic.

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