Cervical Spine Surgery

Your neck pain may improve with conservative treatments, but sometimes, cervical spine surgery to repair the underlying problem is the only way to ease your symptoms, restore movement, and stabilize your spine. When you need cervical spine surgery, you can confidently turn to Ashish Upadhyay, MD, MS, at Connecticut Advanced Spine in Bristol, Connecticut. As a board-certified orthopedic surgeon with advanced fellowship training in spine surgery, Dr. Upadhyay has helped many patients return to an active, pain-free life. Call the office or connect online today to request an appointment and learn if cervical spine surgery can help you.

When might I need cervical spine surgery?

You may need cervical spine (neck) surgery to relieve neck pain and other symptoms that don’t improve with conventional treatments like medication, spinal injections, and physical therapy.

Many people need cervical spine surgery to repair degenerative changes. However, you could suffer a traumatic injury or develop a tumor that weakens the cervical spine. 

Conditions that may need cervical spine surgery include:

• Herniated discs
• Spinal stenosis
• Degenerative disc disease
• Cervical deformities (scoliosis and kyphosis)
• Upper neck disorders (craniocervical junction disorders)
• Neck fracture

These conditions frequently affect spinal stability and pinch the cervical nerves.

What symptoms can cervical spine surgery improve?

At Connecticut Advanced Spine, Dr. Upadhyay uses his expert surgical skills to repair the underlying cervical spine problem, easing the symptoms caused by your condition.

The conditions listed above may cause neck pain, headaches, inflammation, limited neck movement, and muscle spasms.

A pinched cervical nerve typically causes pain, tingling, and burning sensations in your neck, shoulders, arms, and hands. A severely damaged nerve may result in numbness and muscle weakness in your arms and hands.

What type of cervical spine surgery might I need?

Dr. Upadhyay has extensive experience performing many cervical spine procedures. These are only a few examples of surgeries he may recommend to improve your neck pain:

Cervical discectomy

A cervical discectomy treats a herniated or degenerated disc in your neck by removing the damaged disc. After the removal, Dr. Upadhyay implants an artificial disc or fuses the two bones.

A discectomy eases your pain by taking pressure off the pinched nerves and restoring stability to your neck.

Cervical nerve decompression

Dr. Upadhyay may recommend several procedures to treat pinched nerves. Surgeries like laminectomy, laminotomy, and foraminotomy create more space for the nerves by removing a small section of the vertebral bone or eliminating the bone spurs or thickened ligaments putting pressure on the nerves.

Is cervical spine surgery a minimally invasive procedure?

Whenever possible, Dr. Upadhyay performs minimally invasive cervical spine surgery. Minimally invasive techniques cause less post-surgery pain and promote a faster recovery compared to traditional open surgery.

Call Connecticut Advanced Spine today or connect online to request a consultation to learn if cervical spine surgery can improve your neck pain.