I am a 45 year old male. 4 years ago i had a bilaterial laminectomy/disectomy
at l4/5. I returned to full everything (tennis golf), I was 70% better.
Last month I felt something during tennis in my back so i took the month off. I
now have clicking in my low back with a lot of back pain not much at all leg
pain.
I saw a spine doctor who xrayed me and said that this is par for the course
4 to 5 years after the surgery i had. His advise was to live with the pain.
Is he right? Can I start to hurt other levels? Can I be fixed? I hate to be
selfish but i want to go back to playing hard tennis 3 to 4 times a week.
Thanks,
Alan
Dear Alan,
The return of pain some years after a lumbar laminectomy and diskectomy may
or may not signal a worsening spine condition. Occasionally a patient may
herniate some more disc material, causing leg pain and/or numbness and weakness.
This can require repeat surgery to remove the disc. This does not seem to
be your situation. Also, after a laminectomy, some patients may develop delayed
instability at the levels where the laminectomy was performed. This condition
is called spondylolisthesis and means that one of the vertebrae is slipping
forward on another. It may cause back pain and possibly leg pain. These
are the two primary 'fixable' causes of pain after such surgery as you had.
The reason for your new back pain may be one of the above, or it may simply
be an aggravation at the site of previous surgery due to activity. Much of
this depends on your physical exam and what was seen on the films your physician
ordered. If there is no surgical condition, you may need to take it easy
for a while and be careful with activities. At that point your physician may
order some physical therapy to help you out.
Good luck.
