Liliane R.
This 61 year old active female began having pain and stiffness in her neck after a car accident in 2011. She had worked with physical therapy, acupuncture, and massage over several years, but was not satisfied with the results. She presented to Dr. Anand in 2018 looking for a way to maintain her active lifestyle, including swimming, and preserve her neck mobility as much as possible. She was ultimately diagnosed with two separate issues. The first was degenerative disc disease and disc herniations at C5-6 and C6-7. The second was instability and sclerosis at C1-2. To address the disc herniations, Dr. Anand recommended a hybrid surgery of an anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) at the degenerated C5-6 disc with an artificial disc replacement (ADR) at C6-7 to maintain motion at this level. For the C1-2 instability, Dr. Anand recommended a C1-2 posterior instrumentation and fusion. Here is her story in her words:
“Before my pedestrian/car accident in 2011, I had been a sporty woman all of my life. I was a 10k runner and long distance bicycle rider. Following my accident, I went to see Dr. Anand, who had also successfully performed surgery on my then 17-year-old son whose legs were taken out from beneath him when playing basketball. After being prescribed physical therapy, I noticed that I was still having problems doing even the small things, like turning my head and swimming. Even the pressure of the water on my head was painful. The pain was pretty bad and since I wanted to avoid taking pain medication, it became even more daunting for me to overcome.
After trying all other recommended treatment options and still dealing with daily pain and almost complete lack of range of motion, the one option that remained was surgery. I had 100% confidence in Dr. Anand and trusted him completely to perform my surgeries. Life is great now and I can’t thank him enough! Thanks to Dr. Anand, I am back to swimming and living life to the fullest. The best part is finally being pain free!”
