@A MyChronicPainTeam Member, the discs are the natural spacers, when you have spine surgery sometimes they put artificial spacers back in. It keeps your mobility in your neck in this case.

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A MyChron...

I had ACDF fusion on neck. They put 4 titanium plates with screws in place of the bad discs. It was honestly a very easy & successful surgery for me. Fast healing time, too.

I've had 4 cervical spine surgeries & they put a titanium plate with screws from C2-C-7. Recovery time is a lot faster than my Lumbar spine surgery. Still having some difficulty when sitting at my computer going to online classes for very long at a time and raising my left arm. Surgery was successful in holding me together though. Still require pain medication unfortunately yet I always try just plain tylenol first because I have an addiction history of abusing street drugs so I feel I'm at high risk. Hope all goes well for you & you can live as pain free as possible.

They look like little cog wheels on X-ray, we used to see them frequently at the office I worked at.
If your joint space is still good, then they want to preserve it! It is a good thing.

I had a herniated disc. They did a discectomy, they went in through the front of my neck, not the back because my spinal chord was badly squished. Dr took out the bulging disc out of my neck that was crushing my spinal chord flat. Then Dr. put in a donor bone, a steel plate and screw into my neck. It’s been 14 yrs.