Lumbar fusion

[jack919]

how long does it take to heal or relief the pain after lumbar fusion L4 and L5

[ggreg]

Losing weight is a great idea, because if the tummy gets too big, it pulls that lumbar spine out of whack, so get in some stomach muscle tightening exercises.  The muscle spasm thing is still true, particularly since your recent CT scan showed the back is straight.  So, massage therapy where someone rubs out your lower back muscles should help.  Sometimes, tho, inflammation and swelling from the surgery or from the continual tug on the lumbar spine by weight can squeeze nerves to where they'll hurt some.  So, if you could also take an anti-inflammatory medicine like aspirin with a meal a couple times a day, you may notice a little less discomfort.

But you know what, you sound like me.  I have a tore-up lumbar spine, and there's some nerves that go from there over to the hip and then into the rear, and I have sharp pain at the hip and my rear is numb a lot, too.  When I see my doc again end of this month, he is supposed to increase my pain medications.  But the steroid shot you get will hopefully numb your nerves to where you won't have as much pain, and they can give you that shot periodically.  But I know exactly how frustrating this is.  You go in to get your back straight, and you wind up with some compressed nerves that hurt, but let us hope in your case it's still a post-op sort of thing, maybe once your back gets accustomed to its new arrangement, the pain will subside.

[jack919]

i have this more than 8 months and have CT scan a week ago. Docter told me everything is nornal but my back is still hurt, cannot sit dowm much, still taking Norcal 10 mmgs 3 to 4 time a day. still doing PT also it hurts and numbs on my left hip which i did not have before the surgery, they told me it may heal or we have to live with it, just make me scare, also my back is the most important and they told me wait for a year and see what happen, i have checked with the pain Doctor and he told me if i do n ot get better after 6 months then the chance to get better after that will be very small, need to do excersice and reduce the weigth and hope the pain get better, I want to go back to work even the office work but it is still too hard for me. I am going to get a steroid shop and hope to take the pain away a liitle so i can come back to work. Do you think i can get better after a year or that is it. Thank you very much for the help.

[ggreg]

Long time.  Actually, there are occasions where a surgical fusion fails, but let's not go there for now.  If you still feel pain a minimum of six months later (sometimes takes longer), I'd say it's time to complain.  But keep in mind that muscles can spasm from this type of surgery, to where they hurt like crazy, and this can happen for a long time.  The best solution is doctor-approved physical therapy to strenghten your muscles, and also doctor-approved massage therapy to relax your muscles.  I cannot stress this enough, the importance of the muscles in this.  See, could be your bones and spine arrangement is perfect, but your muscles can hurt so bad that they can literally take you down.  Now, they ought to do a scan of your surgical area, to make sure things are aligned just right with no complications, so ask for one of those to make sure it's not the surgery doing this to you.  Hope this helps.