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Success stories after lumbar fusion?
Spine Health | Last Active: Oct 28 1:12pm | Replies (39)Comment receiving replies
@domiha
I am a 55 year old female who had L3-L5 decompression and fusion surgery (included laminectomy and using hardware to stabilize my spine). Before surgery, I was dealing with congenital stenosis, degenerative disc disease and neurogenic claudication. I had pain/weakness/numbness from lower back/hips/buttocks down to my feet on both sides. This made standing, walking and sitting difficult and really limited functioning.
I had the surgery because the spinal injections stopped working for me (had them at the worst site L4-L5). It was a really painful surgery and the first few weeks were the most difficult but I took one day at a time and can tell you I am glad I did the surgery. My pain/weakness/numbness has reduced and I can walk my dogs now without my feet going numb. I started PT last week to work on strengthening my lower body muscles, especially hips/hip flexors, since they have deconditioned over time plus I worked at a desk job so long. I was dealing with bilateral gluteal tendinopathy and bilateral hamstring tears before surgery.
You may want to do PT before surgery if you can to strengthen your muscles to help you with mobility post surgery recovery. That is what I wish I would have done before surgery.
The more levels you have done, the more restrictions on movement. Have you gotten a 2nd or 3rd surgical opinion? Do you need to fuse L5-S1? That seems to be a post surgical problem for some.
Good luck gathering information and making your decision. Hope you get some relief and recovery of some quality of life.
Replies to "@domiha I am a 55 year old female who had L3-L5 decompression and fusion surgery (included..."
Hi, @dlydailyhope I have done a couple of rounds of PT.... about six months each... but I still have the balance issues. The PT was aware of the balance issues and worked with me to strengthen core...
Your first paragraph sounds a lot like me.... except that my stenosis was not congenital.... and I'm 73yo. I could hardly walk before the laminectomy because of pain in hips and legs. I had spinal injections.... and I have had them every four months for the past year... but I can't tell they make much difference.
The leg pain was so bad before the laminectomy that I coud have had the neuropathy/numbness/tingling before the surgery but I would not have noticed. My lower legs seem weaker than before I had the stenosis diagnosis. The stenosis is a bit strange, too... obviously it was there and getting worse with time... but at 71 I had no problems walking and working in my yard... I had occasional back pain and aches I attributed to aging. But one morning in Sept. 2021 I woke up and both feet felt like they had a 20lb weight attached to them. I could hardly move. My PCP sent me for an MRI... and then I was sent to a surgeon. I saw several before deciding on one.... and ONE of the neurosurgeons I did not choose said, "We will put a spacer between L5 and S1. If not you will be back within a year." The surgeon I chose was excellent... and my surgery went well... but now he is suggesting that the fusion might resolve the remaining issues as I have no disc left between L5/S1... and two discs above that are compromised. As he explained it, he would remove the disc tissue and place a spacer between the discs ... and that would create more space between the vertebrae... and thus decompress the nerves as they exit the spine in that area. He says the surgery would be done in two procedures.... the first day he would do the ALIF and remove discs and put plates to hold them in place. Then, the following day he would go in through my back and put rods and screw to my spine to give mroe stability. Was your fusion a two-part procedure? Another question.... do you FEEL the hardware/rods?
Thanks for sharing! Best wishes for your continuing recovery! Mike
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@domiha
P.S. I should have mentioned that I just had my surgery in August 2024 (about 2.5 months post op).