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Looking for people who had a disc totally worn away, GOKHALE method
Spine Health | Last Active: Jun 10 12:21pm | Replies (7)Comment receiving replies
@annie1
I had severe stenosis at L4-L5. My MRI showed I had no space whatsoever at that level for my spinal cord/nerve roots to function properly or send signals or allow proper blood flow/circulation.
I ended up having a disc spacer put in where they removed degenerated discs and decompression of my spinal cord/nerve roots with fusion to stabilize L3-L5. My L4 vertebrae was slipping over my L5 vertebrae (spondylolisthesis).
Before surgery, I had pain, weakness and numbness in my lower back, hips, buttocks, thighs and down to my feet. I couldn’t stand, standup, walk, use stairs for long at all. I was afraid of walking because my legs/feet would go weak/numb. All of my symptoms fell under the neurogenic claudication umbrella. After surgery, many symptoms improved.
Replies to "@annie1 I had severe stenosis at L4-L5. My MRI showed I had no space whatsoever at..."
Thank you for your response. Did they have to do fusion to keep the spacer in place and if you don't mind me asking where did you have the surgery done? Your case sounds very similar to mine so that's very encouraging but so far the doctors I've spoken to have only offered fusion and my own surgeon said he was reticent to do that because there are often problems above and below the fused area requiring more surgery. Again I'd love to know where you did this surgery so I could contact them.
I just reread your whole message and saw that you did have fusion so excuse my asking again about that. At any rate I'd like to know where you had the spacer put in so I can follow up with that place.
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@annie1
The Gokhale Method would not necessarily help me because I have a congenitally narrow spinal canal to begin with and any degeneration of my spine, discs, bone spurs, etc. would cause compression of my spinal cord/nerve roots. Posture is definitely important and having a strong core helps but some degeneration makes the need for decompression of spinal cord/nerve roots necessary. If fusion can be avoided, that is probably ideal but some don’t have spinal stability. Fusion helps for a period of time prevent the need for more surgery. The problem is that with fusion, you can get segment issues above and below the level of fusion and require more surgery.
I had decompression and fusion of c5-c6 and need c6-c7 done next week. I most likely with need more surgery in the future on my lumbar and cervical spine (currently in my mid 50s).