Herniated discs and motorcycle riding

[JonnyWyshbone]

Sorry I know you got a discectomy, what did they replace the disc with? Did you get spinal fusion or artificial disc? I had an orthopedic surgeon tell me they could take out my disc and leave an empty space, but I for the life of me could not wrap my head around this. How could they just leave an empty space there? Wouldnt your spine collapse on itself or something? I did try asking the doc, but he must've thought he was talking to one of his office buddies cuz he was talkin to me and swear my IQ dropped like 100 points

[Akshun]

Had a sciatica episode once due to bad exercise. Thank god it went away after some physio. The pain was terrible.
Hope ya heal up soon and well, the seasons just started too. BTW finally nice to read an excellent thread on here. which hasn't happened in a while.

[dantonios]

Sorry I know you got a discectomy, what did they replace the disc with? Did you get spinal fusion or artificial disc? I had an orthopedic surgeon tell me they could take out my disc and leave an empty space, but I for the life of me could not wrap my head around this. How could they just leave an empty space there? Wouldnt your spine collapse on itself or something? I did try asking the doc, but he must've thought he was talking to one of his office buddies cuz he was talkin to me and swear my IQ dropped like 100 points

As strange as this sounds, the disc was not replaced. Current technology does not provide for a reliable/lasting substitute for a disc. There are very few places in Canada that offer this. Depending on the location of the disc and the mobility of the spine at this point; dictates what they do following removal. With my disc removal, the lowness of the disc removed allowed them to do nothing for replacement. Muscle tissue grows to effectively fuse the disc above and below that removed. In other cases they may opt to do an actual fusion with rods and such.

[Gary]

As strange as this sounds, the disc was not replaced. Current technology does not provide for a reliable/lasting substitute for a disc. There are very few places in Canada that offer this. Depending on the location of the disc and the mobility of the spine at this point; dictates what they do following removal. With my disc removal, the lowness of the disc removed allowed them to do nothing for replacement. Muscle tissue grows to effectively fuse the disc above and below that removed. In other cases they may opt to do an actual fusion with rods and such.

Artificial disc replacement has been around for at least the last decade.
When I had L4-L5 L5-S1 removed, they held me together with rods, screws, and a bone donation from my hip. It's been over 20yrs since I had mine done.

I know for a fact that 7 yrs ago, there was a Dr in London ON that was using titanium (artificial) discs for replacement - buddy of mine had L4-L5 replaced with one. I believe this practice is more widespread now.

If you don't mind dantonios - what 2 vertabrae did you have a disc removed from? I've never heard of "nothing" taking the place of a surgically removed disc.
It takes bone a minimum of 6 months to "fuse" and muscle tissue would not hold your spine very stable from what I've learned having a "bad" back for 45 yrs.

Link to artificial disc info:

http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00502#top

[dantonios]

If you don't mind dantonios - what 2 vertabrae did you have a disc removed from? I've never heard of "nothing" taking the place of a surgically removed disc.
It takes bone a minimum of 6 months to "fuse" and muscle tissue would not hold your spine very stable from what I've learned having a "bad" back for 45 yrs.

Link to artificial disc info:

http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00502#top

Certainly. It was the L5 S1 vertabrae.

I can only tell you that my neurosurgeon was not confident with the reliability of replacement discs for my surgery. My surgery was done at St. Mike's and my neurosurgeon has been the game for many years (30 +). I am not sure what you have 'heard' or learned from your 45 years of bad back, I am only relaying the information given to me by my neurosurgeon.

Please note that the surgery is much less invasive than when you had it performed. I was out the next day and back to typical activity within 3 days. From what i have heard of the days when you had your surgery, it was much more invasive and recovery time was longer.