Upper back and neck pain

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blkrino

Active member
Joined
Feb 15, 2009
Messages
26
Location
London, Ontario Canada
I had aortic replacement surgery in June 2008 and four days later popped all my sternum wires and had to be rewired again. They say it took another 3 hours to rewire me. That whole little episode was painful.
My problem now is that I have very painful upper neck and back pains. They are a dull muscle aching type pain. I have had a couple of massages which helps for the short term and I use a linament which helps a little. It has not improved though. It started about 4 months ago. Oh yes every morning I sit under the shower and run hot water over my neck and shoulder. Again this helps in the short term a little.
I checked my sternum and it has grown together but I think it miss aligned when it grew together. My doctor took xrays but he said they were ok.
Has anyone had any similar pains that will not go away?

Reinhard
 
I remember having pain in my neck & upper back for quite some time after surgery, so I was on pain pills for quite a while.. wow, I can't believe your wires popped? I bet that was painful!!!
 
My wires didn't pop but I had nagging neck, upper back, and shoulder pains for over a year post-op. I took arthritic forumla tylonol to ease the pain. It was the worst when the weather changed. I could predict the weather better than the weather man. My doc compared this to getting whiplash in a car accident. During the OHS your joints and muscles and pulled into very unnatural positions. It eventually subsided but I still get occasional bouts, particularly in damp weather.
 
Hi Reinhard and welcome.
I too took arthritic formula Tylenol. It was pointed out to me that I was holding my shoulders wrong while walking and of course sitting. And I still catch myself still doing it today.
The massage therapist suggested to me when I'm sitting or walking to relax the shoulders, gently push back the shoulders and bring them down. While walking, with your hands reach for the ground. Another exercise you can do while sitting in a chair is to grab the bottom of the chair with one hand and slowly stretch towards the opposite direction.

Good Luck
 
Yes it was painful. It was Friday morning and I was doing well waiting for some friends to drop by at the hospital. I was admiring my nice thin scar because they glued me together the first time. I thought this is great because you could hardly see the scar. Any way I was taking a drink and a little went down the wrong way, I sort of hiccuped and then coughed three of four times, without my pillow and that did it. The pain started instantly from right to left all accross my chest. It was so bad it is hard to discribe. They took me back into OR and redid my sternum wires again and this time they also used black stitches on the outside with these red tubular rubber things on them so they wouldn't tear through on the oustside either. It was quite picturesque.
 
That sounds totally terrible.....Postop I had trouble with my already bad right shoulder.
The docs must have really wrenched it back and it was very slow to heal.
Before surgery for a couple of years I had found a really good physiotherapist.
 
I remember the neck and shoulder pain was the most annoying part of my surgery. I finally got some heating pads that are adhesive-backed and stuck them to my neck/shoulder area. I would also sleep with a heating pad. This went on for a little while. You might give those a shot. I wasn't brave enough to get a massage soon after my surgery.

What on earth did you do to pop your sternum wires? Ouch!
 
I?m sorry this happened but you most likely would have had the pain anyway ?. They pull, stretch, contort you in all kinds of ways to get at your innards ?. I had shoulder pain for several months that started two months or so after my surgery ?. It take time?.
 
That's a long time to have those pains. Since your doctor says your sternum is ok, would you consider trying some gentle stretching exercises? You might be able to get a referral to a physical therapist, or just look for a book or dvd at the library. The pain is probably making you tense up those muscles, causing more pain, in a cycle.
 
DebbyA said:
That's a long time to have those pains. Since your doctor says your sternum is ok, would you consider trying some gentle stretching exercises? You might be able to get a referral to a physical therapist, or just look for a book or dvd at the library. The pain is probably making you tense up those muscles, causing more pain, in a cycle.
Click to expand...

Good advice .... I actually spent some time at the chiropractor which help a good bit.
 
Freddie said:
It was pointed out to me that I was holding my shoulders wrong while walking and of course sitting.
The massage therapist suggested to me when I'm sitting or walking to relax the shoulders, gently push back the shoulders and bring them down. While walking, with your hands reach for the ground. Another exercise you can do while sitting in a chair is to grab the bottom of the chair with one hand and slowly stretch towards the opposite direction.
Click to expand...
Yes me too,I was holding myself stiff and kinda guarded,I realized it later.
But initially I had upper back/neck pain,tingling and numbness and most of
it was just norm post op effects,but later it was from my bad posture,I think.

The exercises sound helpful,and since you have been post op awhile,fine
for you to do,especially because of what happened to you post op,you may
be guarding yourself more than you realize. It would be a natural reaction.
My Best-
 
oops

oops

Sorry, Freddie and Dina, I was paging down to see just how he popped those wires, and missed your stretching advice...much better with specifics!
 
DebbyA said:
Sorry, Freddie and Dina, I was paging down to see just how he popped those wires, and missed your stretching advice...much better with specifics!
Click to expand...

It was Freddie's advice. But what are you sorry for..there is always room
for good advice:)
 
You guys overwelmed me with response.
I think you are all correct. My posture has not been the best. The worst actually is infront of the computer and or television. Massage helps the most in the short term and stretching in the long term. I am a little hesitant about letting a chiropractor crack my neck, there is enough cracking in there without any outside help.
How I popped my wires is a little vague. It was four days after the valve replacement and in the morning some time (this is according to my wife since I was still fairly well in funny land at the time) My wife said I hiccuped after drinking some water and it went down the wrong way and I started coughing without my pillow. After three or four good coughs I felt this searing pain starting from right to left. Even with the drugs it was overwhelming. They took me in at about 5pm for about 3 more hours of rethreading. My daughter took some pictures of what I looked like afterwards. Ill try to send one.
 
Looks like some kind of bomb

Looks like some kind of bomb

Here is the artistical side of my surgical team so my daughter had to take a picture. Does anyone think the surgeon had a sense of humour.
 
Wow - what a picture!

I, too, had back and shoulder pains. I am 17 months post-op and finally got tired of the off and on pain so I braved the chiropractor a couple of weeks ago. He took it pretty easy on me for the first visit or two and when the adjustments didn't make anything worse he got a little more agressive.

I have to say my back feels better than it has in a VERY long time. However I don't think you should go to a chiropractor until you are absolutely sure that your sternum has healed.
 
blkrino said:
My wife said I hiccuped after drinking some water and it went down the wrong way and I started coughing without my pillow. After three or four good coughs I felt this searing pain starting from right to left.
Click to expand...

Ugh!! I accidentally swallowed some water the wrong way not long after surgery, and yes, the pain is excruciating - even without popping the wires (they must have done a better job on mine!). I couldn't stop coughing and certainly couldn't find a pillow fast enough.. although it was a case of too little too late.

Meanwhile I'm loving the smiley face! This is what mine was always referred to when I was a kid (and when I was scowling about something, I'd always be reminded I had a "smiley face" somewhere... <..scowls some more..>..) :D


A : )
 
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