I’ve had spinal fusion 6 months ago. Pain is mostly relieved but walking over five blocks causes pai

Hi Roberta,

Where was your fusion done ?

Mine was T2-T7 and I did not walk for almost a year post op, that was three years ago, been in almost constant pain since.

I found the fitter I became the less the pain was.  Keep up the walking and the other exercises, I was doing squats and heel-lifts.

Good luck !

Hello Roberta1776,

Good to hear you are doing well.  I have the same issue, but it is worse when I have my SCS on. I still can't walk far at all.  So good luck!

I agree with everyone else, you are doing exceedingly well.  Recovery as far as any nerve damage takes up to 18 months. Which means that they take that long to repair and regenerate themselves.  You are on the right track with all the activity but taking a rest when you need it.  As a physician I would suggest continuing with PT as long as you can because they will be careful with you, as soon as you try the typical personal trainer at the typical gym you risk the no pain, no gain mind set and that is NOT good for someone with your history.  You are coming along just fine, keep up the good work!

Lynn

I've had 4 spine ops...each one was very different...

- Laminectomy L4-S1: Really bad sciatica...nothing worked.  Neuro went in and found a bone spur literally crushing my sciatic nerve root at L4.  Did a decompressive laminectomy while removing the spur and shaving back the calcified L5/S1 disc.  Immediate pain relief.  Took a week or so to get the inflamed nerve back to normal.

- TLIF Fusion L3-S1 (Picture 1):  Lots of lower back pain.  For the TLIF, they go in from your BACK and install the rails, spacers and screws.  Neuro characterized my spine as a "junkyard".  After 45+ years of playing hockey, ya gotta pay the price.  This was 12 days in the hospital (some post-surgery complications...had to go in again), 4 months of rehab @ 2-3X/week and 6 months in a brace.  Still didn't feel better for almost a year.  After that, pretty good.

- LLIF Fusion (Picture 2): Back pain above the previous fusion radiating to lower back and down both legs.  Diagnosed as bi-lateral stenosis coming from L2/L3.  Choice of another TLIF to remove all the previous hardware and re-fuse me L2-S1...or...do an LLIF where they go in from your SIDE, destroy the disc and insert a device that expands like a car jack.  Insert, crank it open to the desired height with an actual Allen wrench, backfill with a bone graft from your hip and close.  MIRACLE OP!!!!  One night in the hospital, zero rehab, no brace, instant cure!!!  This is the best kept secret in spine ops.

- Laminectomy L2-L4: Increasing lower back pain radiating from upper lumbar nerve roots.  It seems that the LLIF a year before was TOO successful.  There was so much bone growth around L2/L3 that it was compressing a lot of nerves in the area.  I thought this would be a quick in and out.  WRONG!!!  Neuro took 3 1/2 hours to clean me out; post-op pain was as bad as my knee replacement.  It's now been 4 months with the brace.  Starting to feel better but it still lingers.  Figure I'll probably turn a corner at 6 months but I don't expect a full recovery for a year.

ALSO...  Because we change our gait from the pain, there's a real good chance you'll throw your hips out of alignment or lock up your SI joints.  Had this happen 5 weeks after my knee replacement and the past month now too.  My chiropractor always gets me back to normal.  Had to find a very special chiro who has done lots of work with people who have implants.  In my case, it's the two fusions plus my right hip and left knee.  She does her work very gently and goes nowhere near the spine metal.

As you can guess, with 4 1/2 pounds of metal in me I'm the TSA's worst nightmare at the airport!!!  You just have to give it time.  Your recovery will be different from that of everyone else just as my four spine "encounters" were different from each other.  Be Zen: "I'll be better when I'm better."