How long does it take to get out of bed after anterior cervical surgery?

Cervical spondylosis is a relatively common disease. Most patients adopt conservative methods to treat it. After all, surgery has certain risks. However, for patients with more serious conditions, surgical treatment of the cervical spine is also required. The most common one is anterior cervical surgery. After surgical treatment, it is necessary to emphasize maintenance to ensure good therapeutic effects of the surgery. Patients can usually get out of bed and engage in moderate activities two or three days after surgery.

1. Do I need to take medicine after surgery? Whether or not medication is needed after surgery is determined by the patient's condition and cannot be generalized. If the patient experiences arm numbness after surgery, some nerve nourishing drugs can be used as an aid; if there is still soreness and swelling in the neck and shoulders, some anti-inflammatory analgesics or muscle relaxants can be used; however, most patients do not need to take medication after the pain from the surgical incision has recovered.

3. What complications may occur after surgery? The most serious and fatal complication of anterior cervical surgery is laryngeal edema, which often occurs within 24 hours after surgery and requires patients to be closely observed in the hospital. Secondly, anterior cervical surgery can irritate the esophagus or trachea, and some patients may experience symptoms such as a foreign body sensation and difficulty swallowing. If a steel plate is used for fixation during the operation, since the trachea and esophagus are in front of the steel plate, esophageal fistula may occur in severe cases. Patients often ask whether the surgery will affect their speech. In other words, will the recurrent laryngeal nerve be damaged? As mentioned in the previous article, the incision is usually made on the right side of the patient's neck, and the position of the incision is higher than that of thyroid surgery. The recurrent laryngeal nerve is generally not damaged, and the incidence of this complication is relatively low.

The complications of the posterior cervical spine surgery are mainly due to the posterior shift of the spinal cord after decompression surgery. A small number of patients will experience symptoms of nerve root paralysis such as shoulder pain or inability to lift the shoulders. It should be emphasized that with the improvement of clinical surgical techniques, the incidence of surgical complications of cervical spondylosis has dropped to a very low level, and patients do not need to worry too much. Even if complications occur, as long as you seek medical treatment promptly and deal with related symptoms as soon as possible, you can minimize the harm of various complications.