Unfortunate Outcome from ADR

[Harrison]

Patrick, I'm really sorry about your pain & outcome. I am perpexed as to what an "overworked" disc is all about -- and it's come up here -- at least in those terms. If you could elaborate on your understanding of this, that would be helpful.
E.g., is the artificial disc in good shape?

[Patrick1]

Sorry about my description of this overworked artificial disc, it is a bit confusing as I read it again. I think what my doctor was stating was that I had overworked the whole lower lumbar area of my spine. The artificial disc is actually stronger than the rest of the very unstable area in my low back. Because of the added stress I was putting on my low back trying to act "normal", when I am not, something had to give and it was my SI joint. My doctor told me several people in the Kineflex/Charite study that had L4-5 replaced who have been exceeding their physical limitations, have had their SI joint give out. I don't know if it made any difference whether it was the Kineflex or the Charite. For the record, I have the Charite and it is in good shape. I hope this makes more sense.

[andromeda1111]

I have stated this before and my theory is that all of the surrounding structures are put under tremendous stress in having to deal with a bad disc, so they overcompensate, they get worn out and weakened... they are subjected to perform in ways they were not designed to do, after ADR those areas are still weak and need time to recover, they need to be strengthened, after ADR they are once again traumatized because of the "new positioning" being positioned back where they are suppose to be requires them to re-adapt and recover.

[tmont]

My physical therapist and several other 'side members' of the medical personnel I've dealt with (radiologists, pain-management specialists) seem to go with with your theory, Laura. I tend to agree as well.

However, one radiologist took it a step further and told me after looking at my MRIs that 'the body finds a sort of stability in instability' and I should therefore not risk making things worse by more spine surgery. 'Let your body work it out for itself; I've never seen a patient whose body has not learned to cope and compensate on its own with time, even if things will never be perfect'.

My NS didn't appreciate his opinion, but I don't think I can translate the language without getting censured by the boss

At any rate, my physical therapist feels that when the spine is off-kilter for any reason and with or without ADR, the whole thing must be gently worked on to help strengthen and stabilize as much as possible. This too goes against what some doctors feel, so I think the best we can do is trial and error (but error hurts big time here).

Trace

[ans]

Carmont:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retri...&itool=pubmed_docsum