Total Disk Replacement "Human Back" - Diesel Forum

MarkEkberg · 12-20-2007, 02:05 PM

Does anyone know if they have been successful with the lumbar region?

I know they have been successul in the neck, but after a week of my back killing me disk replacement sounds good to me right now.

I am going on 16 years of problems. I have had surgury at 21 and they collapsed two disks l4 l5. They did not fuse because I was so young, but after this week I am exhausted.

Rick M · 12-20-2007, 03:53 PM

Mark,

I saw a program once where they were implanting a gimbel type device in a woman's L5-S1 joint and her response was amazing. As a Chiropractor I work to hopefully help people avoid surgery, but at times it is unavoidable. The device looked pretty stout, but I do not know if it is still in trials or has moved to prime time. If I find anything I will get back to this thread with the information. Good Luck, Rick

asd · 12-20-2007, 06:36 PM

Think twice my friend, I had 2 bulging and 2 ruptured discs - the doctors only gave me a 20% chance of ever walking again. Went to an accupuncturest 2x/week for 4 weeks - healed and never another problem. As my Doctor said, try accupuncture, you have nothing to loose because once they take out stuff there is no going back if it does not work.

Also not trying to scare you but this article from the New Yorker sure opened up my eyes. Long but worthwhile.

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/200.../020408fa_FACT

Duzitall · 12-20-2007, 08:34 PM

“If you have a screwdriver, everything looks like a screw,” he said. “There will be a lot of people doing the wrong thing for back pain for a long time, until we finally figure it out. I just hope that we don’t hurt too many people in the process.”

That's the way I saw it after spending lots of time and money at the DC, DO and MD offices. Now I just try to deal with the pain without drugs. At fifty years OLD it's getting harder for me all the time. Maybe I'll try some K.C. Woo-aaaa-ong Accupuncture!

Thank you for the good reading Excursion1.

pabrannan · 12-21-2007, 08:27 AM

Friend of mine had/has lower back problems too. Didn't want to go under the knife. Doc told him to exercise. He really didn't like that either. Took up kayaking and the major part of his problem disappeared! What happened he got the exercise a different way and enjoys the kayaking along with the fishing he does. Is he curred, no, but has less pain that is now tolerable. Probably doesn't work for everyone, but hey, it's worth a try. Exercise that is.

Paul B

Silverlode · 12-21-2007, 10:09 AM

I had back surgery at 30. That was 7+ years ago now. I had broken my back at least 10 years previous to this (unbeknownst to me) as there were a couple of dime sized peices of my spine that had broken off and long since disintegrated. How I did this I am unclear on. Could have been a hundred things. Football, Hockey, etc., etc. Bottom line is a few of my lower vertebrae were pretty jacked up and two of the disks were even worse. The pain running down both legs had gotten to the point where I could hardly stand or walk by the end of each day.

I am fortunate because my mother just happens to know a very high profile Dr. at Johns Hopkins (Ben Carson). He reffered my to the head of Neuro Surgery at Hopkins who reffered me to another Dr. on his staff. Supposedly, this guy is THE MAN in regards to this stuff. It took 9 months of misery to get an appointment with the guy and the surgery another 3 months after that.

The results: He removed most of two disks and fused three vertebrae together with a peice of bone from my hip. It was unpleasant afterwards for about a month, and a couple more months before I actually felt good.

Now I have some limited mobility obviously because of the fusing. I wouldn't say I am just like I used to be by any means, but I no longer have any nerve pain and I would do it all again in a second.

PM me if you want the Dr.s contact info.

MarkEkberg · 12-21-2007, 11:47 AM

Finally I am feling better today. I feel very fortunate for how good my back has been for so long after my surgury.

I had no option when I had surgury. I had a rutured disk that had gone unseen for almost a year and I was having nerve issues due to it. The second one was bulged so bad they collapsed it while they were in there.

I have thought about A pressure for a long time, just never followed through.

Exercise does help, but sometimes life does not allow that to happen. When something like this happens I am not able to exercise like I normally do for a few weeks. Then I have to be carfull for a while after that.

I am not going to jump into anything, but I think I need to start finding out about options as I think I will be having surgury in the next five years or so.

Thanks for the info and opinion. Always nice to get different perspectives.

Rick M · 12-21-2007, 12:33 PM

One of my biggest problems is getting folks to understand just how much effort and exercise it takes to rehab and maintain their spine after an event has injured it. Anyone that has ever twisted an ankle severely might recall just how easily it is to turn it again, months even years later because of the originally torn tissues. It takes constant upkeep to ward off recurrences and even then there is no guarantee. One of the big issues I see is the imbalance of belly to back muscles. Most peoples back straps are a lot strong and more conditioned than their abdominals.

Duzitall · 12-21-2007, 01:11 PM

Good points. I also found that losing 10 pounds made me feel better. Not just my back, my entire outlook and energy level. A plus is that to lose weight you must eat properly and that helps too.

But of course, these things like sit-ups and eating healthy don't cure the damage. It just makes it easier to live with the pain.

Texrob1 · 12-21-2007, 03:54 PM

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Duzitall</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Good points. I also found that losing 10 pounds made me feel better. Not just my back, my entire outlook and energy level. A plus is that to lose weight you must eat properly and that helps too.

But of course, these things like sit-ups and eating healthy don't cure the damage. It just makes it easier to live with the pain. </div></div>My Chiropractor is always asking when I am going to start exercising,lose weight & doing my stretches,I told him I am moving my Beer to the back of the fridge so I have to stretch for it,he said that's better than nothing LOL. In all seriousness, I have heard the same thing,just losing a few pounds can really help your back (Not a blown disk obviously) Good luck Mark with whatever you decide to do, I have had a bum back since I was 13, I know it's no fun. [img]/forums/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cry.gif[/img]

fastersteve · 12-21-2007, 08:36 PM

There's a book by Dr. John Sarno, called "Healing Back Pain", definitely worth the read!
I couldn't stand through a shower and shave without being in agony. Surgery to do a fusion was approved by Ins. and just waiting for me to get it scheduled when I heard about this book(I also have some pieces mysteriously broken off my spine). 30 pages into the book I was laying in bed NOT wanting to fall asleep, dumbfounded that I wasn't in pain, putting pillows under my knees, etc.
9 yrs. later, still pain free, still unfused.
FS