I'm NEW here and just amazed that I found this message board and at the right time!
There is sooooooooo much support here, and I'm looking forward to reading about all your experiences here.
I'm currently a candidate that has gone through a timely selection process for ADR surgery occuring soon at a Univ Med Ctr. I have been selected to be a part of the Activ-L ADR Study, but I do have my concerns (my ins does not cover ADR). I have postphoned my surgery and have decided to monitor/hover here and get to know more and decide if this is the right choice for me.
I am/was very active with biking, hiking, yoga, snowshoeing & walking. I am now unable to participate in any of these activities due to the increase in pain.
PT (ultrasound), massage & chiropractic works wonders for me in helping with pain mgmt but only lasts a week at a time. I buy the Therma-Care heat packs by the boxes to comfort the lower back and they help me get through a day at work.
I'm looking forward to any suggestions and help from you all, as I am just thrilled that I found such a great support site!!

You have a surgical decision; I appreciate your moment to think about it. You acknowledge the challenge and issue and that is a good step. Ask questions, ..., search for phrases on adrsupport.org that ring your bell.

activ-L was included in two (2) abstracts from the 2nd German Spine Conference, Dec 13 - 15, 2007, not too much extra data, ASTM testing. I'll post it in a bit. Clinical data looked like the same test results on the www.alphaklinik.com website, but I haven't compared numbers yet.

Wish you were not a surgical candidate, take care, keep up some form Physical Therapy activity, limited so as to not aggravate the spine,

Thx Slackwater for your help!
Activ-L artificial disk is in clinical use in Europe & Canada, and it is limited to investigational use in the U.S. from what I have been able to research. In the study, the Activ-L Artificial Disc is being compared with the Synthes Spine ProDisc-L and the DePuy Spine Charite Artificial Disc. My Spine surgeon stated that 50% of the patients will receive the Activ-L, 25% the ProDisc and 25% the Charite. The patients will not know what disc was surgically implanted until 2 yrs later.
I have cut down a tree for all the info I have printed to review regarding these 3 discs!
I'm grateful for all the info provided by patients that have received the ProDisc and Charite, but is there anyone out there that has received the Activ-L disc or is also participating in this clinical study?

Thank you for helping me undertand the trial,<UL TYPE=SQUARE><LI>50% activ-L®,
<LI>25% Prodisc-L,
<LI>25% Charite[/list]It's appreciated. The activ-L trial will probably come to UCSF in CA at some point. Orthopaedic researchers, Surgeons, Medical doctors know more about the subject than I do, so it is hard for me to say I have an ADR / TDR preference, and an activ-L selected, but ...

I have serious questions about a two-level fusion based on previous patients' mid to long-term fusion results & keep reading. To my knowledge, based on my last meeting with an orthopaedic surgeon at UCSF, I meet the ADR / TDR inclusion criteria, so fusion is a fall-back position. She, the surgeon, prescribed an interim ESI/SNRB (epidural steroid injection, selective nerve root block) which I can repeat.

Harrison may pm or email you; he knows more.


You asked about other activ-L patients.

ADR Surgical Outcome Forum: There are forum members with activ-L. Not sure about clinical trial participants. Essentially, one has had to travel to Europe to get an activ-L TDR. For patients, Click Here. Search for "activ", or see some of the below<UL TYPE=SQUARE>
http://adrsupport.org/eve/forums/a/t...1/m/4321030303
http://adrsupport.org/eve/forums/a/t...1/m/1321032272
http://adrsupport.org/eve/forums/a/t...1/m/7251062992
http://adrsupport.org/eve/forums/a/t...1/m/4651098592
http://adrsupport.org/eve/forums/a/t...1/m/1051043292[/list]

activ-L® European Prospective Clinical Trial: Click Here for data on 26 patients, ~limited patient number compared to a US-based IDE, but valid data. Source data is from
2nd German Spine Congress, Annual Meeting of the German Spine Society
2. Deutscher Wirbelsäulenkongress
December 13th-15th, 2007, Mannheim, Germany

SimonW and I know each other from racing sailboats. Part of Simon's story after the 2-level Lumbar activ-L® is on the web link. He does fine, no drugs from wayyyy too early a time after surgery for me to believe. My reference point was watching fellow aquatherapy patients who had undergone fusion. So, ...

SimonW tells me about ridinig his motorcyle all weekend for X00 miles < 2 months after surgery, ... I found out he went to South America to ride around on a motorcycle late last year, his videos are online under SlowLane Dispatch, click.

Two months after SimonW's surgery I took pictures of him at the finish of a 60 mile ocean race outside of San Francisco Bay; he sailed doublehanded. I took a finish picture from the shore; SimonW is steering the boat, with the tiller between his legs, bending forward, pulling on both the spinnaker sheet and guy, about to gybe the boat.

Uhh, ... please do not expect average surgical recoveries to go as well as Simon. There are ~similar success stories with activ-L, so ... You will read and you can find the absolute opposite can also happen, same device, same surgeon, same level, revision, fusion, ... It's an individual response to each surgery, but an outcome analysis some days in making the decision.

Take care, best wishes,


Slackwater SF
Nov'04 MVA: two-level lumbar surgical candidate, ~fusion, ADR / TDR... Apr'07 spoke w/SimonW 2-level Lumbar activ-L... Jun'07 renewed passport..