Anyone here had a back surgery?

**NoMan** · Posted On: 10/01/2007 9:31pm

Things aren't looking too good for me. I'm losing feeling in my legs, can't rotate much, can't tie my shoes easily, (I lie on my back and pull my foot up to my face to tie my shoes), and lie around like a beached whale. So, anyone else here had one? How long will you be out of it, range of motion afterwards, how long until you got your strength back, things of that nature.

**UpaLumpa** · Posted On: 10/02/2007 11:11am

I had back surgery at 24 or thereabouts, microdiskectomy, after about a year of very bad pain, similar loss of feeling and needing to take large doses of vicodin to put my shoes on as you described. In my case I had a bulging disc (operated on) which was resulting in the sciatica.

Within ~3 days I was in considerably less pain than I had been in over a year. I was told to avoid exercise for ~6 weeks. Given how much better I felt after three days I'm pretty sure I didn't even wait three weeks to start lifting again. Unfortunately I lost some flexibility due to starting up again too early.

I was pain free for about 5 years with some sciatica starting again at that point (at the time of my surgery I was told I would require additional operations due to other disc issues).

In my case I was able to recover (too) quickly and was very happy with the results.

**NoMan** · Posted On: 10/02/2007 6:18pm

Doesn't sound so bad. Most of the old guys in the military warned me against back surgery. Said if I got one, I'd never stop having them. I have three compressed discs, (as of a year ago my last MRI), but it's never hurt like this. It's really hard to study because I can't lean forward to write on a notepad or read a book.

**PirateJon** · Posted On: 10/03/2007 8:30am

My deal was the same as Upa.

Medical advances makes anything more than a year or so old horribly out of date.

Have you asked your doc about nerve blocks?

**new2bjj** · Posted On: 10/03/2007 11:15am

What about that thing that guy had in his back at the UFC fight night- was it Nate Quarry? It looked like a Lego and he made it through a war, basically. The guys are in Las Vegas, so it might be $$$$$, but it might also be the best thing out there.

**NoMan** · Posted On: 10/03/2007 5:24pm

I see a doc on Friday morning, earliest appointment I could get. I imagine that richer areas are gonna have better doctors, but that's how it goes. We'll see what options I have on the table.