i'm sorry to hear your husband's going through this. although i'm clearly not an orthopedic surgeon i may be able to shed some light on this. while there's no direct link between a lumbar laminectomy and bulging discs in the cervical spine it is possible that the patient could succumb to poor posture and body mechanics in order to relieve pain in the lumbar spine. this could in turn lead to upper-back pain (likely muscular not skeletal). in terms of how the laminectomy could ultimately cause problems farther up the spinal column here's what can happen. if you fuse two vertebrae together they cannot flex and bend naturally anymore. this puts a lot of stress on the vertebra directly above (in the case of lumber; below in the case of cervical) the fusion. after many years the battered vertebra or spinal disc can degenerate or collapse leading to the need for another laminectomy or fusion. this will again put stress on the next vertebra/disc up and so on. people who have vertebral fusions at a younger age run the risk of needing additional surgeries as the years go by due to the problems i described above. i have no idea if any of this is going on with your husband. it's highly unlikely his cervical spine problems are related to his lumbar laminectomy. nonetheless back problems stink and i hope he's able to find treatments that give him relief!
how lumbar injury affects cervical spine. my husband had a laminectomy after a disc ruptured & pieces entered the spinal column. a second laminectomy performed to remove remaining pieces. two years ago he required an xlif. he has problems with his cervical spine with some bulging discs. years ago his neurosurgeon told us eventually the damage could cause cervical and thorasic spine problems. a va dr. never heard of a connection between injury to the lumbar spine & problems with the cervical or thorasic spine. could you elaborate?