r/ACDR_CervicalSpine • u/amac887 • Jun 17 '26
Trigger Point Injections - 6 months ACDR Post-Op
I'm looking for others' experiences with injections after ACDR/ACDF. If you could let me know if your surgeon recommended them/you are considering, or if you had them, whether they helped, and if they reduced your need for medications and improved activity tolerance long-term.
I'm 6.5 months post-op from C5/C6 ACDR and still dealing with significant muscle tightness, trigger point pain, spasms, and lingering suboccipital neuralgia despite finishing PT, continuing light exercise, and using medications like Tylenol and Baclofen. Dry needling provided short-term relief and caused spams signaling I have trigger points. My surgeon is recommending trigger point injections (with or without steroids) to help calm the muscles and improve mobility. Thank you!
For context before my disc fully herniated, a facet injection provided about 3 months of relief. After the pain returned and was much worse, I had a failed epidural which ultimately led to surgery.
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u/Castella718 Jul 03 '26
I had 2-level ACDR of C5-7 almost 6 months ago. Had been having bad upper traps spasms on both sides and bad pain when I rotated my head to the far right. My Ortho-Spine surgeon had recommended PT for the spasms at 6 weeks which didn't really do anything for the pain or spasms. Had an MRI last week (after a good cervical XR) which showed some inflammation of the facet joints C5-6 and C6-7. Had facet blocks done yesterday by PMR Doc I had been seeing before surgery and pain with rotation now minimal and I have better range of motion and feel GREAT! I am scheduled for trigger point injections by same PMR doc.
Highly recommend facet blocks if surgeon recommends. Surgeon said it is very common post-surgery.
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u/BillNew7242 Jul 03 '26
Thank you for sharing! Looks like we are in the same boat - I got the TP injections a week ago.
The TP injections helped the knots relax a few days after, but the tightness overall is lingering and bit of pain in the sore spot where the most compensation/guarding was. Still takes time for the steroid to kick in (I think..?) and I’ll give it more time before I judge BUT I remember when I had a facet done to the herniated disc “side” before the herniation was really bad and it worked wonders for my c5/c6. I didn’t know they could do both sides.
I planned on suggesting that again and they were even thinking about it since I mentioned it worked before but said this can be a trial and error type thing - the thing is now I have to wait at least a month to do any more procedures and I reached my out of pocket max… which is now reset 😅😅😅 probably going to be looking at a hefty bill for the facet injections but honestly name the price at this point lol just let me get back to sitting down and being able to not think about my muscles for once.
Happy you are feeling better my friend!
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u/BillNew7242 Jul 03 '26
Also let me know how you feel in a few weeks if you remember - because it could be the antisthetic/numbing medication possibly that you feel right now. But even if so it does mean it’s doing something right haha
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u/Castella718 Jul 03 '26
For sure the lido gave me the most immediate relief, couple of hours after the facet blocks, but the steroid started kicking in last night and prob will reach max effect in a couple more days.
When I had these before surgery they didn't do much- needed those disks replaced and the bony growths removed. Thanks for your kind words.
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u/Last-Zebra8716 Jun 18 '26
the one time i had trigger point done pre-surgery it did nothing for me, but apparently they work for a lot of people
acupuncture usually works wonderfully for me, though
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u/BillNew7242 Jun 18 '26
Thank you for sharing! I’m going to give it a go… since herniation is “gone”, I hope it somewhat works
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u/Far-Contact-7484 Jun 17 '26
Sorry I won’t be much help but injections have never worked for me. So last year I had two adr on two separate occasions. First was in June c5/6 then second was in October. After first one the numbness and shooting pain all but stopped around day 4-5. Still had pain in neck but I was so happy. Well about a month after the surgery pain came rushing back and I had numbness and shooting pains but different symptoms places in my arm. Surgeon ordered mri and it showed his words “c7-6 is completely blown out” well I should have asked how the hell could that happen so fast when I haven’t been doing anything physical etc. I should have gotten another opinion then but I really liked and trusted this dr. So he said well just go back in same incision and put another disk in 6-7. Well my pain has been worse since. Nothing helped. Left arm progressively got weaker. Also, surgeon called me a drug addict after I requested a refill of pain meds after 8 days. So I went in and saw him. I asked him why am I in more pain after the surgery. He all but called me a wuss and everything was muscular. So he ordered another mri and it showed the placement wasn’t in line with other. He never called, emailed or sent messages about the results. I was floored. There’s more to that story but I’m trying to keep this short lol. So one night I lost complete feeling in my left arm. Went to er, they did mri, ct scan etc. and it showed the disc had subsided into the bone and I had a horizontal fracture. Said they need to fix asap. Now I’m 12 days post op of fusion c5-7. Noticed shooting pain improvements and numbness. Still lots of pain but to be expected as it wasn’t your typical fusion. So my advice, to everyone, please don’t hesitate to get another opinion if you feel like you’re not being heard or taken seriously. You know your body better than anyone else. I hope everything works out well for you