Cervical Disc Replacement in Houston
Your cervical spine is made up of seven bones stacked on top of each other in your neck area. They are called cervical vertebrae. The cervical disks are the cushions that lie between the cervical vertebrae and act as shock absorbers to allow your neck to move freely.
During cervical disk replacement surgery, a diseased cervical disk is removed and replaced with an artificial disk. It is done when the space between your vertebrae has become too narrow and part of your vertebrae or your cervical disk is pressing on your spinal cord or spinal nerves. When these symptoms do not respond to nonsurgical types of treatment, disk surgery may be recommended.
Using an artificial disk to replace your natural cervical disk is a new type of treatment that has recently been approved by the FDA. In traditional cervical disk surgery, the diseased disk is removed and the cervical vertebrae above and below the disk may be fused together. Disk replacement surgery may have the advantage of allowing more movement and creating less stress on your remaining vertebrae than traditional cervical disk surgery.
Reasons for the procedure
Loss of space between your cervical vertebrae from wear and tear is common. Cervical disks begin to collapse and bulge with age; this happens to most people by age 60. But doctors don’t know why some people have more symptoms from cervical disk degeneration than others.
Your symptoms may include:
- Neck pain
- Neck stiffness
- Headache
- Pain that travels down into your shoulders or into your arms
- Weakness of your shoulders, arms, hands, or legs
- “Pins and needles” or numbness in your arms