How to recover from spinal fracture/surgery to prevent future problems?
Posted , 3 users are following.
Hi everyone, I fractured my L1 back in January and had to have pedicle screw fixation surgery from T12-L2 as it was a burst fracture and there was a lot of retropulsion into the spinal canal.
I have been doing physiotherapy exercises twice a day for the last 4 months and swimming about once a week, trying to walk as often as I can.
I know that back injuries are different to other injuries and recovery is very different.
Almost 6 months on, I'm still not near full recovery I don't think as I still have a lot of muscle pain and lower back pain especially if sitting too long etc.
I would like to know, is there anything I can do to ensure that I won't have future complications due to this fracture and surgery? What would you recommend to make a full 100% recovery? I'm 19 and a lot of people tell me mixed things, e.g. You'll never look back as you're young. I also get a lot of this "you'll suffer with a bad back for the rest of your life" eh, thanks? Definitely not what I enjoy hearing 😂
A lot of people tell me that physiotherapy is the most important factor for recovery and ensuring pain and complications won't come back in the future. Do you agree? I also am doing Pilates once a week as I have heard great stories of recovery due to Pilates.
What else can I do to prevent future complications? Swimming, daily walks, Pilates, yoga, physio, vitamins/minerals etc? Thanks in advance!
0 likes, 3 replies
dpilot james57451
Posted
Sorry to hear of your spinal issue especiaolly so early in life. I can only relate to you with my experience so therefore will only suggest what to avoid. For more than 30 years my spinal issues crept up on me with pain being an annoyance I couldnt shake till a few years back when it would become debilitating which led me to a two level fusion surgery that I wish I had never done. Do all the physical therapy that is suggested in the hope that by being young the more rapid muscles growth will provide much help. Do NOT have irreversible fusion surgery especially of more than one joint unless the pain is a constant level 10. If your spine gets fused it must be fused in a position that allows all the nerves to be in their natural position unimpinged. I think that alone is nearly impossible to do. Once your spine is fuse that is the only position your spine will not cause you pain and it is impossible to find and stay in that position, especially to sleep. Since my fusion I have slept comfortably through the night only once in nearly three years. The spine is built to flex in an infinite number of positions and if any part of it is locked forever, it causes a binding of the nerve or some nerve fibers that translate to pain. The more joints that are fused the more greater the problem becomes, then the adjacent joints begin to fail because they end up taking more of the natural loads. So try everything else, especially the building of muscle to support your problem area and avoid at all cost a spinal fusion. That's the best I can offer from my experience. Good luck and I wish you the best.
james57451 dpilot
Posted
Thanks fr your ripely, sorry to hear that, do you mind if I ask what was the cause to your spinal issues? Also, which part of your spine is fused?
Do you think physiotherapy is important in relation to recovery?
I hope that my surgery performed is not a fusion as that does not sound very nice haha. Although I was never told if it was or not, thanks for your reply it's been helpful!
dpilot james57451
Posted
I flew jet fighter for 20 years and underwent a lot of G loads for years. The Docs don't think that was a cause, but combined with scolliosis it may have contributed. I never went through any other trauma that I know of that could have cause spinal issues for me. The area of my spine that is problematic is L-3 through S1; the lumbar region. several discs have collapsed and there is bone on bone and movement occurs easily. If my problems were higher in the spine, I could have had a synthetic disc replacement like others I know of but they don't do it in the lumbar region. Medical technology is constantly evolving so stiff-arm fusion or anything that is permanentthat does not replicate your natural functioning. In your lifetime there should be solutions that are better than fusions. When you see them advertising on TV about a 1" incision and you throw away your crutches and walk again is BS; just scammer docs selling surgery. There is only 1-2% of the folks it works on. A pain mgt doc once told me, consider why these fusion surgery centers are located close to airports; patients fly in desperate for pain reduction and pay >$50k for a chance to be pain free. They rarely see the docs again. Even if you get a good local surgeon to do fusion surgery they will stop seeing you at the 2 year point if it hasn't worked out because records are no longer required to be kept on a patient past 2 years. That's also when legal liability ends. I had a very good surgeon. I screend him from 5 highly recommended surgeons, but at the 2 year point after surgery (nearly to the day) he cancelled my appointments and said he could do no more. Same thing happened to my brother-in-law. He however eventually received an artificial disc by another surgeon but his issue was higher in the cervical spine. That has helped him alot.
Good luck. I hope the info helps