Cervical Disc Replacement

Replacing a cervical disc with an artificial disc is becoming a more common practice. Dr. Shim explains the pros and cons.

Citations:

Othman YA, Verma R, Qureshi SA. Artificial disc replacement in spine surgery. Ann Transl Med. 2019 Sep;7(Suppl 5):S170. PubMed PMID: 31624736

Additional Resources:

[savagesfortruth]

You explained everything clearly then most doctors I’ve seen

[giuseppediciommo]

@ShimSpineVideos What about lumbar artificial disc replacement?

[trevordamien]

Hello, Dr. Shim I experience frequent electric shocks, terrible pains in my lumbar spine, and feet with excruciating knife-cutting pains in my soles, on top of my feet, and in all of my toes. My entire left arm and right arm are also affected by these very severe pains, with the right arm slightly better than the left. I had three cervical disc bulges in C4, C5, and C6, C7 as well as a projecting slipped disc in L6 and L7 in my lumbar spine with a pinched L nerve root, according to many tests and an MRI in May of last year. I take a lot of muscle relaxants, neuro and anti-inflammatory painkillers. Until receiving a proper diagnosis in 2022, I had endured this disease for the previous eight years.

[ilyab.]

I have been diagnosed with Spondylosis. I am missing lifting heavy at the gym. It was my life to lift and doing sports. Now i feel like grandpa at 40 years old. I want them to replace my whole spine to a robotic one so i just be able to come back lifting!

[trevordamien]

I wear Both a cervical collar and a lumbar spinal corset until bed time. Particularly, my L foot and occasionally R foot swells up and deflates. Dear Gentleman, my left arm is quite frozen and stiff, and the shoulder is frozen n hurts and the R arm too but not bad as the left sides and making it painful and difficult to lift or place back my right arm. Although my neurosurgeon recommended the steroid injection course, I am anxious to have any surgery.

[MikeSmith-jxrm]

Very useful videos Dr Shim. I have numbness and tingling of my right index and half of my middle finger. My surgeon has suggested I have C5/6 and C6/7 disc bulge with narrowing of the foramen on the right at these levels. My main issue is the numbness and tingling rather than pain. Do any of the surgical options help with numbness and tingling if conservative approaches fail?

[albundy]

Dr. Shim I can’t look up or down or look to my right not to mention the pain it so bad I get physically I’ll and puke at least 5 times a month from pure pain I want this surgery bc my quality of life is horrible.

[fladay]

Europe has been using them for 30 years now, so there is plenty of data ❤ I having c3-4 4-5 mobi-C coming up in 2 weeks😢 I already have a fusion at c5-6 been long 2 years!!

[victornavarro]

Saludos Dr.tengo un discopatia cervical y lumbar me gustaria poder que usted me diera su sugerencia cual seria la verdadera operación, que necesito a que correo pudiera enviarle mi Resonancia magnetica

[SeekerNJWC]

(Note to self for future referral: @ 2:43 + )

[dosvdan]

If you have degenerative disk disease with loss of lordosis and you are in chronic pain, who cares whether or not you have radiating symptoms? You basically need new disks to stop rein in the inevitable decline in spine health, right? Also it's unlikely you would have that without facet joint problems, so it seems to me the future of ADR should include adressing that issue also.

[aaronward]

I ride broncs for a living does anybody that has done this think it's a good idea if I want to keep going or should I wait. I'm 26 and have a good amount of atrophy in my riding shoulder and bicep. Has anybody tried decompression? I want to avoid surgery but I'm losing strength and muscle by the day

[sadiqrehman]

Sir I have also problem l4 l5 s1
Please give me some advice / treatment
Thanks

[KingdomUploader]

lived with DDD for 30 or more years. i'm 68yo now. it is worse in my neck and the pain in the past has traveled down arms and fingers - today, however, the immense pain hits my cheek, jaw and back teeth and headache on one side.
Anyone here care to say which disc number is giving me these symptoms and would i be a candidate for disk replacement or would fusion be required?
Thanks

[zaccaz]

has anyone had heat regulation issues to head? after cervical disc replacement

[processuscoracoideus]

Dear Dr. Shim, may I ask what software you use to show us the 3D animations of human anatomy? Thanks for your amazing videos!

[suzihollywoodmusic]

Would this help or correct CCI - crano cervical instability?

[trevordamien]

I looked after my dearest mom for 12 years lifting her and supporting her alone with a help of a house keeper but constantly i used my left arm to support mom as she was partialy disabled after a bad fall in 2012. Do you think I will be cured naturally Gentleman? Ive been suffering from these unbearable pains(with pain relievers they get controlled) almost 9 years and yet did everything to my dearest mom too.

[markreynolds]

Very nice video, thanks for sharing this video

[Raiseyourvoiceadvocates]

People please read the inserts for use of these devices and please read up on the biomaterials that are in these implants and what these biomaterials do to your body if you want to develop dementia Alzheimer's and things like that when you are older than go ahead and put metal inside of your body but with these manufacturers are not telling you are the massive side effects that come along with having metal of any kind put in your body titanium is reactive as your body attempts to corrode it or get rid of it because it is a foreign object that is what our bodies are designed to do that breaks down the codeine that they claim make it non-corrosive take it from somebody who has had one of these these should never be put in anyone's body they cause hypermobility meaning they allow your spine to move in ways that it shouldn't even move and they can replace your disc with your own bone or a cadaver bone furthermore the plates that they are putting in people's necks clearly state that they are temporary and should not be in a patient long-term and the patient should be notified and instructed to not Bend at all but yet here we all sit with these plates left in our bodies and the sales reps don't tell them