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back fusion
my L5 is broken and the Army wants to fuse my L5-S1. Doc told me that I will not ever jump out of an airplane again or squat over 135lbs. It's either that or I don't get the surgery and I live in pain.
what are your thoughts and expiriences?
male
34yrs old
16yrs training ex.
7yrs cyling ex.
Junior Member
My old 1SG had that same procedure and he is pain free. He was miserable for months even after he had the buldging part of the disc removed. Once it was fully removed and fused he was good. Started running and lifting a few months after he was recovered.
I just had my c3 and c4 fused last week. Im hurting bad still but hopefully it will have fixed what was wrong.
I say go for it bro, no reason to live in pain if you don't have to
Knowledgeable Member
It's still a catch 22. I read stories like the one above where is friend is pain free.
GOD I would love to be pain free. My doc wants to fuse my L5 S1 also. I have ruptured L3, L4 and L5. Last surgery (2 total) was 3 years ago in November.
I live with pain every day. I cant bend over far enough to put on my shoes in the morning after waking up but I work through it and keep going.
I am 47. I DONT want to take the time off of working out and being in the best shape of my life to get a fusion and maybe not be able to work out again if something goes wrong. Im still holing out for stem cell research...
PLEASE keep us posted on your decision. Research your doctor. Find ex patients and talk to them.
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thank you...I'm still 50/50...lou simmons said not to get it...but I'm unable to lift and exercise the way I used to...he gave me some sound advice and I'm going to do the exercises he suggested...I have my final consult on 03JUN with all of my docs and I will ask them all the same questions and see what they say...and yes I will keep you posted.
Knowledgeable Member
I cant lift the way I use to either. I hurt anytime I do anything that has to do with the back, squats, dead lift, back/shrugs.
Im also in better shape than I have ever been in and it's worth the pain. You can train still, work through it. There is a difference between pain from hurting yourself and just the residual pain from an injury though. If it only hurts a little; doesnt bring you to your knees you can work through it. LOL
There is one exercise that works the back great/hard I have never felt any pain when doing.
SEX
Last edited by lovbyts; 05-25-2010 at 03:51 AM.
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Thats the thing...sometimes while I'm doing squats I get a sharp shocking feeling down my right thigh...we shall see what they say at walter reed medical center...Originally Posted by lovbyts
Vitamin Enhanced Sociopathic Post Whore
Im 25 with L4 and L5 bulged discs. Pain is constant everyday. Ive been researching surgery, docs, therapies, etc. Sucks. Cuz Im with you Lovbyts... catch 22. Do I want to deal with the pain and at least still train. Or surgery and be out of comission, while also not knowing if the surgery will be 100%.
Few ppl Ive talked to got surgery and are now in more pain then before. Small percentage but still something that keeps me from making a choice.
Knowledgeable Member
Bulging disk I would look more into the epidural (never really helped me)lots of ice, also I would 100% try the DS6000 or whatever it is where it stretches you on the machine. They can target that atrea allowing the disk to not have pressure on it and eventually the swelling goes away/down. Only problem is insurance doesnt pay.
you can try the inversion table but DONT do like I did. Dont do any inverted sit-ups. That is how/when I blew out my L5 2 years after surgery on L3 and L4.
Be patient, hand from the things for at least 15 minutes every day. Lot's of people swear by it. I just never seem to have the 15 minutes or forget.
I lived with the pain of the bulging disk for 20 years until they ruptured little by little.
If they are ruptured like mine did and especially L5 then surgery is the only option.
Junior Member
I wonder if surgery is the better option for him. You said your injury is a broken L5, is there any injury to the disk? Is the break just a compression fracture? My father had a compression fracture of his L5, he had some kind of adhesive injected into his back that coated the fracture. He is not 100% but he is also 73 and he was unable to do anything but lay in bed for 2 weeks until he got that done.
I am not the biggest fan of Army medicine, I am in the Army and am in the medical field and have seen the good and bad. Hope whatever is messing you up gets fixed and you get some solid medical advice. I know being out of the gym for any extended time sucks. I just had my c3 and c4 fuse on may 11th and I am back in the gym cuz I was afraid to lose everything i worked my ass off for, but i am nowhere near lifting anything heavy for another couple weeks.
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Ok I had ad my L5 fused to my S1 on 10Aug10 and I no longer have any pain in my right leg or groin...my lower back still hurts abit as can be expected...but my left leg now has severe nerve damage all the way down to my toes...it hurts so effing bad.
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Ok...I went back up to Walter Reed Army Medical Center on 19Nov10 for a nerve root decompression and to replace my bent titanium rods on my left side. They had a hard time putting under for the surgery...they told me to count back from 100...when I got to 77 they started to panic...other than that everything went fine...recovery is slow but I feel better than I did after my last surgery.
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