1.How soon can I get off the ground after surgery? Patients who undergo anterior cervical spine surgery can generally get off the ground the next day, while patients who undergo posterior cervical spine surgery generally need two to three days to get off the ground. 2.What are the complications after surgery? The most serious and fatal complication of anterior cervical surgery is laryngeal edema, which often occurs within 24 hours after surgery and requires close observation of the patient in the hospital. Secondly, anterior cervical surgery is irritating to the esophagus or trachea, and some patients may experience foreign body sensation and difficulty swallowing; if the plate is fixed intraoperatively, an esophageal fistula may occur in severe cases because the plate is in front of the tracheoesophagus. Patients often ask if the surgery will affect their speech. In other words, will the laryngeal nerve be injured? As mentioned above, the incision is usually on the right side of the patient’s neck, and the incision position is higher than the incision for thyroid surgery, so the laryngeal nerve will not be injured, and the incidence of this complication is relatively low. The complication of posterior cervical spine is mainly due to the posterior displacement of the spinal cord after decompression surgery, and a small number of patients will experience shoulder pain or weakness in lifting the shoulder and other symptoms of nerve root paralysis. It should be emphasized that with the improvement of clinical surgical techniques, the incidence of cervical spine surgery complications has been reduced to a very low level, and patients need not worry too much. Even if there are complications, as long as timely consultation is made and the related symptoms are dealt with as soon as possible, the harm of various complications can be minimized. 3.Do I need to take medication after surgery? The need for post-operative medication is determined by the patient’s condition and cannot be generalized. If patients have numbness in the arms after surgery, they can use some nerve-nourishing drugs; if they still have residual neck and shoulder pain, they can use some anti-inflammatory painkillers or muscle relaxing drugs; however, most patients basically do not need to take medication after recovering from the pain of the surgical incision. 4.Do I still need to wear a neck brace after surgery? Patients who have had anterior cervical fusion and fixation surgery generally need to wear a medical neck brace for three months; for patients who have had posterior cervical surgery, they generally need to wear a medical neck brace for two to three months.