[LBP]

I had similar grade tears at both my l4/5 and l5/S1. My tears came from a prior surgery. Should have been a medical malpractice case but I didn't know what was wrong at the time and no one wanted to touch me (medically). Early on, after the first couple MRI's I was told I was 'unremarkable.' But the pain told me otherwise, After years of seeking out various treatments and drs, I finally found a great PT and paim mgmt dr that helped me find my dx of annular tears. After conservative treatment, I finally got the surgeon referral. I seem to recall my surgeon, Dr. westerlund actually looking back at the early MRIs and compared to my discogram/CTscans and explained to me that while there may not have been significant bulges, the discs were darker indicating not healthy and possible tears. After years of the discs not healing, and 2 diskograms later, and fighting insurance for ADR surgery, I finally had ProDiscs implanted at both levels in April 2008. It was explained to me that the material that leaks through the tears from your disc is irritable to the nerves. For me when I bent over repeatedly, or in general over did things, my back would hurt, feel swollen and I had tingling feelings in both of my heals and sensitivity with one of the offshoots of the sciatic nerve that wrapped around behind my ankles. During PT I found that my piraformis muslce was chronically irritated and painful, and that my illac crest area was particularly tender. Sometimes for short periods I couldn't even weight bear on one of my legs because my sciatic pain was horrible after trying to do some otherwise normal physical activities with my niece and nephews.

I am still recoverying from ADR surgery but still happy I choose ADR. I just tried to return to work 6 mos post surgery, and jumped in too hard too fast. I saw my surgeon's office yesterday, had lots of xrays, they said everything looked great, but feels that since I was not working for 5 years before I finally got my surgery, I've weakened a lot and it will just take longer to regain strength and stamina to return to work. He recommended just working hard on building strength through appropriate exercise.