OT Lumbar Fusion

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by makoti

Your back is a mess.

I heard somewhere, and I dont recall where, that everyone's joints and body is a mess as they age - you dont expect your face to stay young, why expect your spine? I think unless you have many years of imaging history to see trends, its hard to look at a snapshot in time and discern whether things are good or bad or getting worse.

[makoti]

Originally Posted by .RJ

I heard somewhere, and I dont recall where, that everyone's joints and body is a mess as they age - you dont expect your face to stay young, why expect your spine? I think unless you have many years of imaging history to see trends, its hard to look at a snapshot in time and discern whether things are good or bad or getting worse.

No. There is a very clear difference between a spine that is "normal" and one that is in bad shape.
The problem is that simply having discs that are squished, a cord pinched, or other issues doesn't mean that's the cause of the problem. I've seen people with textbook looking spines that could barely move and others with multiple disc protrusions who were in for follow-ups with no issues.
Having a history of scans does help point to what the issue might be, but you don't need them to tell that there are issues.

To your other point, I once had a knee scanned and asked the Rad to read it for me. I asked if she saw any tears.
"Of course I see tears. Everyone has tears. You could scan probably anyone in the hospital over 30 and we would find tears. It's not that there is a tear, it's where, how big, how recent. And in that scope, I don't see anything"

[kramnnim]

My wife had (has?) scoliosis and had her spine fused at 16-17. I think it’s the whole spine. At 20-21, the steel hardware that had been left inside caused a very bad infection, she had to have her back cut open again to have the hardware removed. The cut was left open for multiple days with drainage hoses, and she was on antibiotic infusions for weeks afterwards.

That was almost 20 years ago, she hasn’t had any notable issues since then.

[StayingUpright]

Originally Posted by .RJ

Unless there are structural problems in the adjacent joints I dont know why it would cause more fusions.

And in your 40's, you have easily 30-40 more years active if you're fit and riding a lot now and thats too long to put off not being in pain or limiting yourself IMO.

The surgeon’s explanation was it would put more stress on the joints above and below the fusion. Like if you fused the elbow, you would use your wrist and shoulder much more. And I would still have enough good years ahead to wear out the discs above and below. But after 2 microdiscectomies I’m not in a hurry to have any more surgeries.

A new business moved in nearby that looks promising. You go in and they give you a stretching plan, then they help you actually stretch. I can barely make a slight twist. One leg doesn’t work well from the nerve being pinched too long passing through the L4/L5. Mostly just trapped in the vicious cycle of not moving because it hurts.

This could be another thread, but I’m also curious to know if the bike choice changed for anyone. I’ve become sensitive to small bumps much more than thr big bumps, with low frequency vibration the biggest issue. I completely lucked into a Seven that fits perfectly, it feels good even with its little 25mm tires.