What helps one person doesn’t always help another, so don’t feel bad that you tried exercises to strengthen your neck. I was advised to do chin tuck exercises for a prolapsed disc C5-C6, it really helped me, but some members have been advised not to do this as it’s not good if you have IJV compression (which I did), who knew! One of our members has suggested neck exercises for military neck which many members have (when you’re neck straightens & loses it’s natural curve, here’s a link in case you’re interested:
List of my favourite resources on YouTube to learn anatomy - General - Living with Eagle
But certainly not a good idea to do any exercises if they make your pain worse…
Hopefully if you have surgery you will heal quicker because of your age! Recovery does vary quite a bit depending on the doctor’s technique, not just between external or intra-oral surgery , but even with external surgeries it can very. I didn’t find recovery too bad; eating is often a bit tricky for a week or 2 so we suggest getting smoothies or soft foods ready in case. Your neck will likely be stiff for a few weeks, & you’ll probably be tired. Recovery can often be a bit up & down, nerves can take months to heal, so nerve pain might improve slowly, patience is needed. Not many people wake up after surgery instantly healed! There’s lots of info and links in this section, or you can search the forum for post-op stories & what to expect:
ES Information- Treatment: Surgery - Welcome / Newbies Guide to Eagle Syndrome - Living with Eagle
As long as the doctor is experienced, and they remove as much of the styloid as possible, the results are usually good. Sometimes with vascular ES, if the jugular vein has been compressed for a while it might need re-inflating with a balloon or stenting to re-open it properly. And quite often members when they’ve had one side removed find that the other side feels worse, so if you have styloids elongated both sides you may need 2 surgeries, not many doctors do both sides at once because there can be quite a bit of swelling…
Have you been diagnosed with CCI, or is it something you suspect?
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