Quote:
Originally Posted by Blizzaga
Hi donmas,
The role of the intervertebral discs is not only to provide movement, but also to absorb stress in compression. When you walk, run, sit and lift heavy objects, your discs are compressed. The strain is distributed among the discs. If you fuse one level, the strain of that level is moved to the adjacent level. Therefore, fusing L5-S1 will make your L4-L5 take on the stress of both levels. This will make your L4-L5 more prone to degenerative changes. It is the adjacent disc syndrome.
So yes, fusing L5-S1 may be easier than fusing other levels (or so I have been told), but you are taking the risk of having to do surgery again as your L4-L5 breaks next. If you choose ADR, the risk of L4-L5 breaking is proved smaller, since the artificial disc will still absorb strain as a natural disc.
Some ADR have special designs for the L5-S1 level.
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I was informed that ADR only suit someone has no facet problem and not bone on bone. I also found out that some people on this site has experiencing facet problem after getting ADR. So it is really hard to determine which has more disadvantage and i am pretty sure if fail ADR will put someone into more problem as not many surgeon is capable to remove ADR without much risk.