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L4-L5 Spinal Fusion


Rocky31186

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I have 3 bulged disks, and l4/l5 disk extrusion that keeps moving and hitting my nerves. When it moves and hits my nerves it almost puts me to the ground. So my dr. does not think the injections will help, so I am guessing I will be heading down this path to do a fusion.

 

Retrolisthesis? I had this on my l4/l5 but PT got me squared away thankfully.

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Mind me asking which doctor did your surgery? Really hoping to avoid a fusion at age 28.

 

We cant pinpoint any event that caused mine as it just started and got progressively worse over 4-6 months. Probably physical work is what we guessed (Plumber). It was a sneeze that was the final straw and landed me in the ER. Disc herniated into the dura around the spinal cord, then i had a spinal leak when they removed it.

 

Dr. Bradford Mullin Nuero surgeon. He knows his shit. Operates at Mt camel east and his office is in westerville.

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I herniated S1-L5 and bulged L5-L4 from weight lifting when I was 26. I tried PT and chiropractic care that eventually resulted in going to get an MRI. MRI immediately showed the issue and thats when I sought out 3 orthopedic surgeon opinions. Of the (3), I chose to go with the 3rd as he gave a fair outlook. He basically said avoid surgery unless you can't move or the pain is that unbearable. Shortly thereafter, I went ahead with 2 injections only at a 6 month interval. First injection worked pretty well. 2nd was worthless as it essentially was non-apparent after 24hrs.

 

In the past 10 yrs I have fought this pain running down either or both legs when trying to drop the weight I gained from lack of being as active. Prior to and right up to the time of the injury I was very active gym wise and lost a considerable amount of weight 5 years before this injury presented itself in 2006. Overtime I have found these to be the "triggers" and "relievers" for this injury.

 

Avoid long term usage:

1. Hard soled shoes (primarily dress shoes)

2. Concrete floors

 

Be cautious with:

1. Leg press

2. Long distance running (short burst okay but number of cycles may need to be considered)

3. Squats

4. Excessive walking (i.e. 25000 steps in a day)

5. Any exercise that put a lot of strain on lower back/hip region.

 

What has helped:

1. Good shoes ( I don't wear any gym shoes but Nike Air Max. Work shoes are Nike air max boots unless I have to visit a customer's site for troubleshooting).

2. Aleve at time helps the pain from swelling if I overdue it with one the activities. Ibuprofen doesn't have an impact from 3-4 pill consumption daily.

3. Decompression (teeter totter can offer this).

4. Swimming (i'm not a fan, but the impact is almost nonexistent compared to running)

5. bicycle riding

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If you are close to hilliard there is a facility on true man court that I use. Mt Camel and they have been very good for me. They push me within reason and know their stuff.

 

I'm actually on the complete opposite side of town. Live by Easton and work across the street from MCE. :/

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I'm actually on the complete opposite side of town. Live by Easton and work across the street from MCE. :/

 

I have no idea for PT on that side of town. I've just had surgeries over there. If you work at the hospital, talk with the therapists there for suggestions. I know that Ortho 1, formerly Cardinal, on Taylor basically across the street from MCE, has PT there as that is where a couple of my surgeons offices are.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

I herniated my L5/S1 3 years ago. It wasn't too severe so a little bit of PT helped me. Traction I felt really helped. I went to McConnell sport and spine. After that i was about 95% back to normal. Just had to be mindful about my back. No more deadlifts or back squats. But I was able to get back into the gym and do normal things around the house.

 

This past January I had Pneumonia for like a month and all the coughing re-injured the disc. I'm going to Orethopedic One off Sawmill. So far so good. I feel like this time the initial pain was much worse than the previous time. They gave me some steriod anti-inflammitory pills for a week or so. Now I'm doing some PT and doing Traction again. Seems to be helping as I can walk with a slight limp now instead of not being able to walk at all or sit.

Maybe look into an inversion table? I feel that spinal decompression really helps.

 

I'd really try to exhaust all options before doing surgery. If you are still bending awkwardly and lifting really heavy items while you're injured or trying to heal, then its not going to help.

However, the advice I was given was to stay active to a point. The lower discs don't get much blood flow. So to keep moving is good. And drink TONS of water.

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https://snyderphysicaltherapy.com/

 

Go talk to this guy. PT may have hurt before but im telling you, John changed my life. He knows his shit and he is very cool. I was hesitsnt at first but a friend who worked in PT told me of him and laid out all the options. Very thankful I listened to him

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