Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike304
I would really appreciate any advice form you as to recovery times to expect, physical excercises you found of use pre and post op, and what type of pain to expect.......as my wife tells me suck it up :-)
Luckily I have one of the best spinal surgeons in the UK on my doorstep who I have full confidence in
Thanks for taking time to read my little journey
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Mike,
Recovery time is very patient dependant as well as work dependant. Some people are able to return to sedentary jobs in a few weeks, others take 8 weeks or more.
In terms of pain it is usually a different pain that what you felt before, i.e. it is surgical. I am a pretty big wimp when it comes to pain and I found it manageable - much better than I was BEFORE the surgery. I was also lucky in that my numbness and pain in my leg occurred only a month before my surgery so that started going away within days of my surgery, however the longer you have had the secondary symptoms generally the longer they take to subside - and if they have been going on for too long then they
may be permanent.
In terms of exercises post-op - nothing beats walking, seriously. Your doctor doctor should provide additional exercises and stretches that will help, and given the degeneration you have I would expect you to have serious hamstring tightness and distraction pain when your spine gets jacked back up to normal. This subsides over time though.
FYI most physios will not have experience with ADR patients, if they do that is a bonus, but my doctor's guidance was anything that is okay for fusion is okay for ADR and your physio SHOULD know what to do with fusion patients. In terms of specific excercises, they should start off relative light and then build up over the course of weeks.
Hope that offers some help.
-Jeff