Post Back Surgery

[jeffrey351]

I am 20 years old, 9 months after surgery, and still in pain. I was a college athlete, in great shape, and in great health. When I was 17 years old I had 4 stress fractures on L3, L4, and L5. That healed until I was 20 when I reinjured my back lifting weights. I was told my back had multiple ruptured discs, buldging discs, and spinololithesis. So I underwent back surgery on Jan 20th, 2010. I had two rods inserted, 2 discs replaced, and 6 screws. Like I said earlier, I am 9 months out and still in pain. I went and got a CT Scan and a Bone Scan, and the surgeon said everything looked fine. He refered me to a rhuematologist since my pain is starting in my lower back and radiating into my legs, hips, and ankles. I don't know what to think.

[carlosthePT]

Sounds like you may have some symptoms of spinal stenosis, which can occur after the surgery due to scarring and not having enough movement to prevent the formation of collagen and stiffness. Try seeing your doctor and having a nerve conduction study or an EMG to determine if there is nerve damage. This will not help with the pain but will give you peace of mind. Try the flossing exercises- they should help and you should be having individualized physical therapy to help you along, regardless of what your surgeon says. Sometimes they do not want to admit that you need additional help from other specialists. It doesn't sound like you have symptoms of arthritis...feel free to check out my site for more tips www.****************************.com.

[jeffrey351]

I looked that up, and am definitely going to try the stretches. The only thing is I had a bone scan and CT scan and my surgeon said the post surgery looks great. Everything fused properly. Now I've gotten drastically worse. Im having severe discomfort all over my body(especially in my knees and cramps in my calves)and I'm having trouble with shakes. My hands tremble and are constantly in pain. I'm supposed to see A rhuematologist in a month. Arthritis this early?? Let me know if this describes possible arthritis.

[Sciatic_pain]

It sounds like you have sciatic nerve damage which would cause the leg pain. Even though the surgery fixed the main problem unfortunately your nerve was damaged. Ask your doctor about a TENs device. Look it up on google. I a have the same problem after 2 l5/s1 disc surgeries. I'm going to ask my doctor in 3 days at my next appt about the TENs device. Also look up spinal flossing for sciatica on YouTube and try those stretches.
Goodluck! Let me know what happens