riding after lumbar back surgery

[ktm505sx]

I'm 44 years old and been ridin since I was 5. I was diagnosed with degenerative disc disiese and after exausting all other options I got my bottom 3 vertabraes fused w/ hardware on 4/17/08. I'm back to work 2 months and gettin stronger every day, my question is do I risk damaging the work thats been done to my back by riding mx or does riding actually strenghthen the back, I understand that the discs adjacent to the fusion are put under more stress. I really want to ride again but I hope to never go under the knife again. Thanks for your input

[cacimx622]

Hi, I ride with a guy that has been fused, he races 40 plus b class at Raceway park English town NJ. He say's he has no problems.I ride with a herniated disk and I have to stop long before he does. I guess the main thing only jump what you know you can the key her is try not to case stuff it will do you in for good!!!!Just my 2 cents well maybe 3.Good luck You can always trail ride just to get out on your bike but I no there is no subsitute for being out on the track.

[YZthump45]

I was just informed by my dr. this morning that this is my last option also. Apparently the 2 bottom disks are pretty far gone. I have had nerve blocks and burning, trigger point injections, ects..... What type of work do you do and is the pain better? What type of pain did you have before compared to now. When The dr. dropped this on me it pretty much knocked me out of my chair. I hoped to never get to this point. Now my son rides and I can't ride with him. I have a couch but it's nothing to riding the bike I had. (sold because of back issues) Any and all input you have about the surgery would be appreciated.

I asked my dr. about it and he said as long as I rode with some sense I would be ok just ease into it and suggested against mx. We discussed Grand Prix and he leaned towards that or Harescrambles. He suggested really good suspension and to ride with some sense but other than that I would be ok after i built myself back up to riding.

[ktm505sx]

Before the surgery the pain was 7 or 8 with the nerve in my left leg pinched to the point of not being able to lift my leg. The surgery lasted 5 hours, the following 2 weeks were brutal, pain level at 9 all day and night, as the pain decreased I started walking, 3 miles a day by week 6, at 4 months I was off pain meds and back to work on light duty, now at 6 months out I feel 80%, hopefully 100% by next spring. I'm a commecial diver and do underwater bridge inspection. Hope this info helps, I would not recommend surgery unless it is a last resort, but if it is the route you have to go, it will suck for a while but the pain does go away eventually.

[BigRichard]

I was diagnosed with a ruptured disk and opted not to have surgery. Although my doctor has had some bad experiences with dirt bike riders, he gave me honest advice. I figured he would tell me to stop riding altogether.

He told me to stay away from activities that have a repetitive pounding effect on my back. For an example, I can run on a treadmill but I can’t do it on a daily bases. He said reasonable trail riding once a week will probably never give me a problem. He told me that I had to be the judge with regards to track riding. A few hard hits is all it will take to shorten the number of years I have left on a dirt bike.

I respect doctors that are willing to give practical advice. He could have just given me the safe answer, “Stay off those dangerous dirt bikes and ATVs”.

[devistating]

I had 2 herniated disk's L4 & L5, that were pinching my nerve passage by more than 50%. I was pretty much bed ridden for a month before i had my diskectomy surgery. They cut out half of the rupture dicks & let the scar tissue fill in where the disk's were removed.. Its been over 10 years now and my back is still pretty strong. I would not say i've ever been 100% since the surgery but very close & pain free! I'm very carful & make sure i use proper body mechanics @ work, home & as much as i can while riding! I used to snowboard alot more than i do now, but that makes my lower back kind of sore so i don't do any big airs on the snow, now i just cruise down the slope's mellow....I think the most important thing is having strong abs/core. This helps out tremendously & i still need to work on that more than i do!

I would say ride, as long as your comfortable and it doesn't bother your surgery, do it! Stay safe & don't Crash:thumbsup:

[YZthump45]

KTM---you were off 4 months of work? I have a desk job and am trying to judge approx. how long I'll be off if I take that route. I haven't gotten to the extent of losing any use of limbs. Weakness at times down my left leg but mainly sharp pain just above my pelvic bone on the left side of my spine. bending over requires me to help myself back up by pressing on my legs and "walking" myself up straight. More times than not I have to sit down to put my socks and shoes on. Lifting my 3 year son is a task. (35 +/- lbs.) I am going to try a chrioprator again and see if that helps. Thank you for the info. Good luck.

[ktm505sx]

Your recovery time will vary depending which type of surgery you have. My first disc up from the bottom (l-5 s-1)was gone, bone on bone, the next 2 up were ruptured, nothing I tried helped and the pain just got worse. If you can get successful results with a discectomy or other less invasive proceedures your recovery time will be less, I had the most invasive surgery. Working at a desk is not really a good thing as sitting is one of the hardest things for me, get yourself a good chair with lumbar support. Thanks for everyone's input. When I feel up to it I will ride again, but with a lot more caution than before.

[Infidel]

Time for new information and data points.

I've had scoliosis of my lumbar vertebrae diagnosed at age 14.

I have been physically active ever since but did my best to keep my weight reasonable for my size.

Backpacked, bicycles, motorcycles, racket ball, basketball, kayaks, fishing, skiing, whatever was the activity I enjoyed.

Developed a late passion for dual sport motos at age 50.

Baja, Copper Canyon, western USA is home so lots of good terrain. Never raced and rode conservatively.

BMI has historically ran from 27-29. I'm a big guy but not in my family.

Literally 44 years later, I ruptured the L5-S1 disc which essentially paralyed my right leg.

Microdiscectomy 12 weeks later with recovery at 6 months allowing another Baja trip.

Upon return, L2-3 ruptured symptomatically with the MRI showing additional ruptures.

Two microdiscectomies later, the transforaminal injections only gave a couple weeks of reprieve.

It turned out that my scoliosis had progressed. Initially measured at 5 degrees at age 14, when the

first disc ruptured, it measured at 9 degrees. After the third discectomy it went from 18 to 21 degrees

in a matter of 3 months.

I got an Orthopedic specialist certified in scoliosis repair to place 20 pieces of titanium and I have now

gained back an inch of height. I'm 8 weeks post op, off the Lyrica with mild residual nerve pain, stopped

the antispasmodic, Valium and walking up to two miles per day. Still using some prn Lortab since they

will not allow any NSAIDS like Ibu or naproxen. It turns out that bone fusion requires inflammatory response

and those drugs dampen it and discourage the healing. I have #2 pelvic screws to S1 and rods/screws to L2-3.

One of my positive factors is that I had a full body bone scan in my early 40's that put my bone density at

the 94 percentile so I'm counting on my ability to lay down bone and fuse completely.

My 5 week follow up xrays showed no shifts or other hardware issues.

The prognosis is full fusion at 3-4 months. Their fusion data base dates back to 2006 with 94% success.

Of the 6% unsuccessful, 3% need another intervention, 3% have an anomoly that they just watch.

I sold my 690 before surgery and the PA told me not to sell my road bike. They expect that I'll be better

than I've been for the past decade within the next year and I will be able to ski as well as moto.

This is the only blog I'm posting on this topic, I want the story available, not identified as me.

People need to know that medical technology and techniques are making progress just like so many

other specialties, orthopedics parallels quite a bit of engineering in that regard.

As my pals Canned Heat puts it: Keep on, keepin' on......

[rmzach424]

Your recovery time will vary depending which type of surgery you have. My first disc up from the bottom (l-5 s-1)was gone, bone on bone, the next 2 up were ruptured, nothing I tried helped and the pain just got worse. If you can get successful results with a discectomy or other less invasive proceedures your recovery time will be less, I had the most invasive surgery. Working at a desk is not really a good thing as sitting is one of the hardest things for me, get yourself a good chair with lumbar support. Thanks for everyone's input. When I feel up to it I will ride again, but with a lot more caution than before.