Dr Adriaan Liebenberg My Spine Cervical | Page 103

My Spine - Cervical
Discharge
You would normally stay in hospital for two to three days following this oper-
ation and you should have rapid relief of the symptoms in your arms. Your
specialist will prescribe analgesics to take home and will arrange for a follow-
up visit. A sick leave-certificate will be provided if needed.
Rehabilitation
You should allow yourself two to three weeks for recovery before returning
to work. Allow eight weeks for proper wound healing before returning to
strenuous activity or sport. Your specialist could prescribe physiotherapy if
you had symptoms of arm weakness before the operation.
Follow-up
Routinely you will receive a date for your follow-up appointment with your
specialist. This may vary from anything between two and six weeks, but you
will be seen earlier if there are any complications.
It is important to realise that you will have to protect your neck for the rest of
your life and apply good neck habits.
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