This is "hubby". While I was certainly cautions about my movements for the appropriate amount of time post-Vertiflex, it wasn't extremely limiting. I continued to live my life - just dialed it back quite a bit. I doubt that the limitations I incurred were as bad as what I would have faced if I had decided on a full fusion. It was a far less invasive surgery - Outpatient, walked out of the doc's office 3 hours later and went home. It did take a good 6 months before I started to fell "near-normal" and my function has continued to improve since then.

The fact is that there are no perfect solutions when our spines deteriorate and cause pain. I did a lot of research into the spinal fusions that were recommended by several surgeons, but everything I read indicated that the success rate of fusions is low and Adjacent Segment Degeneration Syndrome is common. Our spines are designed to flex at each segment, and when segments are fused (5 fusions were recommended for me) and can't flex, the torsional forces are transferred to the adjacent, unfused, vertebrae, causing more wear and tear on them. The common result is another trip to the surgeon for more work at some future point.

As my wife noted in the original post, I've been delighted with Vertiflex. I'm very active - rough, back-country hiking almost every day, home repair projects etc. I stretch every day and am much more flexible than my younger pals who haven't had surgery and don't stretch. I do have referred pain in my glutes and hamstrings from a "serious" stenosis at L5-S1, which isn't suitable for Vertiflex due to the bone structure at that segment. I live with that pain and treat it with low doses of Celebrex and Biofreeze "Professional" (great product).

Everybody's experience differs, but personally, I've had great success with Vertiflex. Good luck.

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