Lumbar Disc Surgery
- Thread starter CXS
- Start date
Good question that's hard to answer between surgery pain, nerve pain and muscle pain. No more leg or foot pain or numbness, the post-surgery nerve zaps have passed, incisions totally healed and pain-free. As far as I can tell 90% of my pain now is muscular from my exercises and physical therapy. The biggest factor is restoring the muscles that have atrophied from years of neglect and misuse which is pretty painful. I'm still pretty stiff in the mornings but that's not surprising for the same reasons. Overall I'm optimistic that the surgery was 100% successful and the rest is in my hands with the PT and home exercise. My range of motion is limited and I still have bending, lifting and twisting restrictions while recovering. The surgeon says another 4 months I should be stronger than I have been in the past 10 years.
I have no regrets.
oljedi11950
New member
Good to hear Chris glad rehab is going well , hard for 1st bit but after getting them back you'll never look back !!! Oh ya 1 knee only (left) bone on bone .
Hepar
New member
Glad to hear it's progressing in the right direction. I recently have started a yoga regiment and I feel like it has helped with my overall pain significantly. I think I'm in pretty decent shape overall. I climb/surf all the time as well as workout, but I noticed the feeling of being very unbalanced very early on once I started. I only go once or twice a week, but I do feel the difference. Maybe it's mental, who knows. But once you get a bit more strength back, you should give it a go!
Just one knee is kind of like just one flat on the trail with no spare, still sucks big time Mike!
That's good to hear, mental or not if it helps stick with it. I'm learning kind of late in life that I should have done things differently but better late than never. I have a good friend, cancer survivor, that credits yoga with getting her life back on track after going through hell and back. She has suggested it as well. As time moves on I'll look into it.
Climb & surf? Good for you, I'm working on stairs and 25 yards in a pool. LOL
sprocketus
New member
Great news on your progress. Amazing how quickly we can get out of shape, and how long it takes to get back into it. Hang in there, stick to it and listen to the therapists closely. All the best. (Veteran of L5/S2 micro discectomy, major rotator cuff surgery on both shoulders).
mybabydaddy
New member
Hi guys! Just wanted to chime in really quick...
Firstly, glad the OP is on the way to recovery! I hope it goes well for you! Sounds like you are working hard and doing your due diligence to help the recovery process. That helps quite a bit.
I just wanted to say that after 7.5 years in this business, please feel free to PM me if any of you guys have questions or concerns when it comes to back surgery. I haven’t read the entire thread yet, but I saw a lot of good dialogue seemingly taking place. And as a person with my own back injury (vacuum disc at L4-5 with para-central herniation), and along with working in the industry, I take these topics rather personally.
I work for the largest medical device company in the world, specifically in spine. I just left the 3rd largest company (in spine) 8 months ago; so I’m relatively familiar with most of the options out there these days. As mentioned, spine/back surgery can be a crap-shoot at best.... but there are tons of factors that come into play.
I don’t want to mislead anyone into having discussions that should be had with their surgeon, but I would gladly offer to answer questions you guys may have in general, or knowing what options are out there.
Good luck!
Firstly, glad the OP is on the way to recovery! I hope it goes well for you! Sounds like you are working hard and doing your due diligence to help the recovery process. That helps quite a bit.
I just wanted to say that after 7.5 years in this business, please feel free to PM me if any of you guys have questions or concerns when it comes to back surgery. I haven’t read the entire thread yet, but I saw a lot of good dialogue seemingly taking place. And as a person with my own back injury (vacuum disc at L4-5 with para-central herniation), and along with working in the industry, I take these topics rather personally.
I work for the largest medical device company in the world, specifically in spine. I just left the 3rd largest company (in spine) 8 months ago; so I’m relatively familiar with most of the options out there these days. As mentioned, spine/back surgery can be a crap-shoot at best.... but there are tons of factors that come into play.
I don’t want to mislead anyone into having discussions that should be had with their surgeon, but I would gladly offer to answer questions you guys may have in general, or knowing what options are out there.
Good luck!
aa.allen
New member
I had it done 15 years ago and started to go through the motions of possibly having it done again. I am tired of being in pain and not be able to do things with my kids I want to do.
I guess I am looking forward to surgery if it will fix me up again. My first surgery was a huge success I went from having no use of my lower body on the right side on top of the awful pain to a normal then 22 year old. I have been living with the pain since last July it's time to get me fixed up.
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I guess I am looking forward to surgery if it will fix me up again. My first surgery was a huge success I went from having no use of my lower body on the right side on top of the awful pain to a normal then 22 year old. I have been living with the pain since last July it's time to get me fixed up.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
As the OP on this thread I figured a follow-up is in order. I'm one of those guys that gets ticked off reading a 4Runner thread about a problem that's never finished because the OP solved but didn't share the solution.
So now that I'm 7 months post surgery I'm happy to say I came out on the good side of this crap shoot called back surgery. I had my 6 month visit with the surgeon and reported that I had no pain at all. He then pulled up my x-rays taken before my appt and was surprised to see the cadaver bone had completely knit to my spine. He said I was where he'd expected me to be at 12 months.
Of course I have no flexibility at the fusion point but it's hardly noticeable unless I bend as far as I can. Think touching your toes. All in all I'm thrilled with the results and have moved on with my life and that's a very good thing.
No regrets!
So now that I'm 7 months post surgery I'm happy to say I came out on the good side of this crap shoot called back surgery. I had my 6 month visit with the surgeon and reported that I had no pain at all. He then pulled up my x-rays taken before my appt and was surprised to see the cadaver bone had completely knit to my spine. He said I was where he'd expected me to be at 12 months.
Of course I have no flexibility at the fusion point but it's hardly noticeable unless I bend as far as I can. Think touching your toes. All in all I'm thrilled with the results and have moved on with my life and that's a very good thing.
No regrets!
Omg, this situation is terrifying. I feel so sorry for you and what might happen to you and your life. I have a good doctor in Chicago, if you will need any assistance or really professional help - just DM. I don't want to consider a negative result, but it is always better to get prepared. You might need a wheelchair, even a temporary one, after a surgery. I would recommend to click here and choose something depending on your budget. But again mate, GOOD LUCK!
Well... since this old thread has been resurrected...
Hopefully the OP has continued to get better.
I'm currently 11.5 weeks out of an L5-S1 fusion - using the anterior/posterior method where they start in the front, clear out your disk and put a "cage" in along with BMP, then flip you over for some hardware.
I'm close to pain free already. Should start PT in 2 weeks. Doctor's orders were no bending, lifting, or twisting for 3 months -hence the delay in PT.
Cause? I had spondylolisthesis of the L5 - it was 18mm out of place, hanging forward with less than 50% of the L5 overlapping the S1.
It was something that I was either born with or happened very young (earlier than 5) and the doc was surprised i had made it to 45 without needing surgery. He said action sports is surprisingly what probably kept me from needing it b/c of the core strength involved. But eventually the disk had degraded so much that nothing was holding L5 in place anymore.
I had tried to delay until I was in my 50s but the deciding factor was that I couldn't be the father my son deserved. Pain was one thing to deal with, but not being able to play with him... nope.
anyway, I don't recommend this. Avoid at all costs if you can. I had done 4 years of injections, pt, acupuncture, etc and nothing worked anymore.
I get xrays two tuesdays from now to see how the fusion has gone. This has a 95% success rate and my surgeon is clearly overly cautious. I've never heard of anyone be held back from PT for 3 months.
Hopefully the OP has continued to get better.
I'm currently 11.5 weeks out of an L5-S1 fusion - using the anterior/posterior method where they start in the front, clear out your disk and put a "cage" in along with BMP, then flip you over for some hardware.
I'm close to pain free already. Should start PT in 2 weeks. Doctor's orders were no bending, lifting, or twisting for 3 months -hence the delay in PT.
Cause? I had spondylolisthesis of the L5 - it was 18mm out of place, hanging forward with less than 50% of the L5 overlapping the S1.
It was something that I was either born with or happened very young (earlier than 5) and the doc was surprised i had made it to 45 without needing surgery. He said action sports is surprisingly what probably kept me from needing it b/c of the core strength involved. But eventually the disk had degraded so much that nothing was holding L5 in place anymore.
I had tried to delay until I was in my 50s but the deciding factor was that I couldn't be the father my son deserved. Pain was one thing to deal with, but not being able to play with him... nope.
anyway, I don't recommend this. Avoid at all costs if you can. I had done 4 years of injections, pt, acupuncture, etc and nothing worked anymore.
I get xrays two tuesdays from now to see how the fusion has gone. This has a 95% success rate and my surgeon is clearly overly cautious. I've never heard of anyone be held back from PT for 3 months.
rdruss
Senior Member
I partially herniated two discs in 1989, it was a year or so later before I knew that though. I was sent to physical therapy and it helped greatly. I was told to continue the exercises I was taught in PT for rest of my life, which I still do today at 73 years old. I have had severe flair ups throughout the years, extreme pain putting me on back for 2-4 days at a time, because I overdid it with lifting. But all in all the PT was the best for me.
As my doctor at the time said " surgery is a last resort".
I'm glad I didn't need it, but for those who did and it worked out well for them I am glad because severe back pain is absolutely the worst, it controls EVERYTHING you do!
As my doctor at the time said " surgery is a last resort".
I'm glad I didn't need it, but for those who did and it worked out well for them I am glad because severe back pain is absolutely the worst, it controls EVERYTHING you do!
