Hello Everyone
Hello everyone,
First of all I would like to thank each and everyone of you that post on this forum, sharing your good or bad results.
This is a unique knowledge source of information, since there is not much spine related or trustable information online (too much marketing in my opinion).
I am 28 years old and I live in Santiago, Chile. I was diagnosed with DDD (L4-L5, L5-S1)when I was 18 years old, and pain triggered by a volleyball fall. Since then I haven't stopped visiting the doctor on a regular basis. I have all kinds of treatments done
PT
Celebra, tramadol
Swimming
Homeopathy
Chiropractor
Facet joint injections
Radiofrecuency ablation
Discectomy at L4-L5 and L5-S1 (very succesufull) 4 years ago.
But this year my symphtoms got worse (not as bad as they were before the discectomy), but still among a 4-7 just by standing on the metro or just walking.
My orthopedic surgeon has recommended me doing pilates, which has improved my symptoms but not enough to have a full sports rehab (my goal is to do sports again, like soccer).
In case this didn't helped me enough, he is recommending me a spinal fusion.
In Chile surgeons don't do ADR since they are mostly based on the US experience, and in my knowledge, prodisc L or the Charite has been very controversial against fusion with very different resulta. Also my doctor told me about economic interests among doctos and the clinical trials.
Right now based on my research and this forum experience I am considering Dr. Clavel, Dr. Bierstedt or Dr. Pimenta (Brazil, close to my country) for surgery. Also I am considering only M6 or ActivL devices.
Again I would like to thank you all for your kind words and sharing your experiences. I will try to keep you updated and share any decision I make from now on.
Cheers.
Roberto.
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