Introduction: Laminoplasty is indicated in patients with cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) who have multilevel cervical spinal cord compression and a neutral or lordotic cervical spine alignment. However, axial neck pain is a common complication post-surgery, which may be caused by surgical damage to the semispinalis cervicis (SSC) muscle attachment on the C2 spinous process. Modified C4-C7 laminoplasty with C3 laminectomy completely preserves the SSC insertion on C2 and reduces the incidence of axial neck pain at subsequent follow-ups.