doctor says back is shot --had back surgery in 1983 now 2 discs are grinding bone on bone ==he says with minimally invasive lumbar fusion i can bike in 4-6 months --anyone else have experience with this ----all input appreciated--normally ride a tandem with stoker -----strange i can ride a bike now but not a car without tremendous pain

Larry Denver Fox had that done in the very recent past. I was surprised how quickly he was back in action. Search for his posts in the last 4 months or so.

September 2, 2009. L5-S1. I had broken my L5 34 years before in a football practice prank. I thought it was only sprained at the time, (8th grade) didn't go to the doctor, but quit football. Hip and leg pain had been getting worse and worse for several years. I could only stand for about 5 minutes at a time, but could ride my bike ok.

It took a while to get it diagnosed. When my GP finally sent me to an orthopedic surgeon, his PA had a flexion and extension x-ray series done. When he looked at them, he came back into the room white-faced. The amount of listhesis I had (sliding of one vertibra over the one below it) is usually consistent with needing a walker or a wheelchair. My bones were literally cutting my spinal cord in half. He said I should have the fusion done as soon as possible.

The surgery is a bit brutal. If you want to look it up on YouTube, I suggest you wait until a few months after you've had it done. Doctors tend to state things in very easy terms to us so that the description doesn't make us avoid the treatment. You'll need pain medication afterward for a while. Mine went well and I'm all healed up now. I did have some serious complications that are very rare. I developed an infection at the surgical site about a week after the surgery. It didn't get into the bone or muscle, but it did require a second operation to clean it out and 2 months of IV antibiotics. To administer the antibiotics, they put in a PICC line. I developed deep vein thrombosis in the vein with the PICC line.

The doctor wouldn't let me ride my bike until the fusion had healed pretty well, about 5 months. He was fine with me using an exercise bike or trainer, just not a real bike. An accident could do real damage until the bones are well fused. The only PT he had me do was a lot of walking. I walked on a lot of the same trails I bike on.

I feel better now than I have in years. I have some lingering nerve damage issues, but they would only be worse if I had put off the surgery. Good luck and stay in touch.

My experience is going to be a bit different given the age I had my L5/S1 fusion (29), but since there may not be a lot of replies I'll add it.

I was racing for Nike's amateur tri team (and dating the team chiro). When she told me a needed surgery I believed her, since she would have to put up with PIA me during recovery. Back in 1989 the common wisdom was to put you in a partial bodycast for 12 weeks. Instead we shopped around for the right surgeon that would be on-board with a much more aggressive rehab. No body cast, and PT starting 5 days after surgery.

I raced a Triathlon (not that fast, but successfully) 16 weeks after surgery. My biggest piece of advice is don;t wait until you are too debilitated. Go in as healthy as you can, it will pay ten-fold on the recovery.

I haven't had back pain in years, and can even get into yoga positions like wheel.

I had a 2 level P.L.I.F. at L4-L5 and L5-S1 in 2004. The lowest level blew out as a result from a work accident in 1989 in 2002 and again in 2003. they took out the discs and harvested bone from my pelvis that was ground up and packed into the two disc spaces. the placed two titanium cages around the bone grafts and two titanium plates with four Ti screws on to the pedicles of the three vertebrae involved. A formed back brace was fitted and daily physical therapy was done for 3 days so I could go home after 5 days. I wore the brace for 6 weeks when I was walking about or standing for longer periods.

The P.L.I.F. took pressure off of a nerve that controlled the right leg and had been paralyzed since 1989. I have had no further problems and only a few degrees loss of movement on the lower back. I had severe complications unrelated to the back injuries and had a second surgery on my abdomen 3 days later.

The operation has its risks, no kidding around about that. The pain and paralysis were just getting to be too much to keep bearing and still get around construction sites as an engineer. I am back to racing Motocross and riding my bicycle same as before with no restrictions. I do wear the back brace as well as a kidney belt when racing. I would do the procedure all over again without hesitation as long as the same nuerosurgeon was doing the surgery. P.M. me if you need any details or just want to talk about the fusions and my experience with them.

Regards,
Bill