Sorry, this isn't related to an answer to your question, but I have my L4/L5 vertebrae that are bone on bone and causing chronic back pain. I'm a 78 year old male. So, I'm at the point where the pain management specialists want to perform a radio frequency ablation; this following two successive medical branch blocks. Would you recommend that I do the radio frequency ablation versus what you had?
Should I see a neurologist or an orthopedic spine specialist instead of continuing what seems to a line of failures with the pain management specialists?
What does MIS surgery entail? Even with my L$/L5 problem, and I have another set of vertebrae that are bone on bone, with all the other vertebrae showing bulging discs of moderate degree, say 2 to 4 mm, but I do an hour on my recumbent bike daily at a decent exertion level and it does not bother my back one bit. I do it more for knee flexibility rather than back therapy though. In the gym, there are two machines that I think would give you back support while helping you strengthen other leg and abdominal areas -- 1.) the "leg press" where you sit back in a flat back chair and press forward on a plate with your legs, strengthening your thigh muscles. 2.) The other is a bench seat you sit on and with a sort of handlebar at your head and shoulder area, you do like a modified partial sit up raising a weight that strengthens your stomach muscles. It is variable in resistance, as most gym machines are. You start out slow and light resistance, building it up over time.