The present results demonstrated that neurological recovery was an independent factor having a significant positive association with post-operative neck pain attenuation.
There are many previous reports showing the possible aetiologies of neck pain.
Axial pain, as first reported by Hosono, which is defined as post-operative neck pain related to posterior approach-induced muscle damage, is regarded as a major cause of post-operative neck pain [10]. Various kinds of muscle preserving posterior approaches have been reported to attenuate post-operative axial neck pain [11][12][13]. The anterior approach does not invade the posterior musculo-ligamentous complex; therefore, post-operative muscle-related neck pain can be decreased compared with that in the posterior approach [14]. However, the present results showed that there is no significant difference in post-operative neck pain attenuation between surgical approaches (anterior, posterior and A-P combined) or surgical procedures (laminoplasty, PDF, ADF, and A-P), suggesting that surgical damage of the cervical musculature has no significant association with post-operative neck pain in the present patient series. Possible explanations for this discrepancy in muscle damage-related neck pain between previous reports and the present data might be as follows: the posterior approach-related muscle damage decreased according to the recent popularization of muscle-preserving posterior approaches and the impact of posterior approach-related muscle damage might be limited to the early post-operative phase and not the chronic phase.
Discogenic and/or facet genic neck pain, which is caused by degenerated intervertebral disks and facet joints accompanied with segmental instability, can be another possible source of neck pain [15][16][17]. Fusion surgery can be indicated for discogenic/facet genic neck pain because this category of pain can theoretically be attenuated by fusion of the pain-generating segment [16]. However, the present results unexpectedly showed that there was no significant difference in post-operative neck pain attenuation between segmental motion-preserving laminoplasty and fusion surgeries (anterior, posterior and A-P). Therefore, discogenic/facet genic neck pain was not likely to be a major aetiology of neck pain in the present series.
The present results revealed post-operative neurological recovery as an independent factor having a significant association with post-operative neck pain attenuation. These lines of evidence suggest that neurogenic pain is one of the major causes of neck pain in patients with cervical OPLL. There might be several possible origins of myelopathy-related neck pain. Spinal cord compression can stimulate the posterior ramus of the spinal nerve, possibly resulting in neck pain [18]. Segmental spinal cord sign caused by compressive myelopathy may, like girdle pain, be another origin of neck pain [19]. Segmental spinal cord compression can cause local impairment of the spinothalamic tract at its chiasma at the central grey matter of the spinal cord [20]. Irrespective of the precise cause, a large-scale cohort study revealed that cervical myelopathy can cause neck pain [21].
The present study includes several major limitations. The present registry lacks data regarding cervical sagittal alignment. Recently, the concept of sagittal alignment has been introduced to the cervical spine, similar to the thoracolumbar spine. Cervical sagittal alignment is important to evaluate neck pain because it has been reported to correlate with neck pain [22]. Therefore, the outcome might be changed significantly if cervical sagittal alignment data were added. To solve this problem, future collection of data regarding cervical sagittal alignment is needed. Another major limitation of the present study is that the present registry lacks information about the precise location and characteristics of neck pain and evaluation of neuropathic pain. Those data are important to elucidate the origin of neck pain. As a result, we can only speculate on the origin of neck pain using indirect evidence including post-operative change of neck pain, pre-operative patient factors, surgical factors, radiological changes, and neurological status. Future data collection of the precise characteristics of neck pain and neuropathic pain evaluation are warranted.
In conclusion, neurological recovery was an independent factor having a significant positive association with post-operative neck pain attenuation in a prospective study of a cohort of patients with cervical myelopathy caused by OPLL who underwent cervical spine surgery.