[aln]

Hello, I'm Aln. I had an active l placed an l5 s1 in early December, 2018. So I'm 8 weeks post op, and feel that I'm coming along well. No real pain to speak of other than the normal stuff. I have a couple questions if you don't mind.

I started physical therapy at 2 weeks and have been doing my exercises daily since then. I do take one day off per week to recover. I walk around a pretty good bit and it feels great. I plan to ask the questions to my surgeon, but the questions that I've asked have had different answers each time,you lol. Also I tend to forget to ask these questions so it would be nice to have some real world experience from the patient's side.

Is it normal for me at this point to not be able to bend very much and not work on it directly as therapy? I know bending and twisting are no nos, but I feel like I'm maxing out my flexion pretty quickly when getting around throughout the day. Therapy has focused on core, which is very important, and legs. I also stretch my hamstrings which I'm sure will help with my back. My surgeon did say that I need to definitely avoid extending my back because it could pop the disk forward since they implanted it anteriorly. He said he wasn't as concerned about flexing forward as much. I'm just double checking since I think I'm the first Adr patient she has had, and she may just be going through the protocols for fusion patients.

What is the prognosis for me as far as combat sports? I have a background in martial arts and want to continue them. My surgeon told me no grappling until a year, but I forgot to ask about boxing. It is definitely less stressful on the back than grappling, but the mechanics of throwing a punch require a rotation of the hips, which I'm sure utilizes the lumbosacral joint (l5 s1). At say, 6 months, am I crazy to think that there is a chance that I could start light training in boxing? I read a study where folks were sky diving, rock climbing, etc with the same surgery at 3 months, which seemed crazy to me. I imagine that my bone will have remodeled into the active L pretty well after 6 months of healing.

Thanks!