Posted: 8/21/2013 1:02:39 PM EDT
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I had a L5-S1 microdisectomy in Dec. 2012. Original injury was due to a body slam on solid piece of wood that went around the soft mat (grappling). Suffered with dibilitating sciatic pain for 4 years. Decided to get a microdisectomy. I recovered fast and took it easy after the surgery. I'm not at 100% but the intense right-leg sciatic pain has diminished by 90% or so. I can live pretty comfortably now without meds like oxycodone and horse sized ibuprofen tablets. I went to a neurosurgeon who is rated one of the top 10 in the US, and he frequently operates on athletes. He did a great job, even though I'm not at 100%, but pretty close. I've been lifting weights for a couple months and just started jogging last month and I can do the elliptical at speeds of 5-6 mph for a full hour non stop. I'm 6'4", 280, broad (size 50 jacket, 38in waist) lots of muscle and some belly fat, so I'm not as fit as I would like to be, but I'm getting there.
I really want to play basketball tonight with friends. I have the post surgery brace and it is solid. It looks like Kevlar bullet proof armor with plastic plates and all. The thing is solid. I put it on tight and jumped for the first time in many many years and I felt pretty good. Pro athletes (yes I'm aware I'm not a pro athlete) get back surgeries and get back in the game. Would you play basketball tonight if you were me? |
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no.
You are lucky. Don't press the issue. I wished I had to time to spell it all out....... Too many people have back surgery only to end up in more pain. I need it but I have to say It could make things worse for me. Why take the chance? Is it really worth it? What if something did happen? You will regret it the rest of your life. If you are doing well don't tempt fate. Enjoy a healing back. Don't do it. |
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Pro athletes have multimillion dollar contracts......you are playing for fun.
play a game of horse and call it good. Think of a microdiscectomy like this....you have a bulge on the sidewall of your tire (bulge on the disc). You would get a new tire right? Well you can't, just like you can't get a new disc. So, you take out your angle grinder and grind that bulge down until its much smaller. Grinding down that bulge removed several layers of rubber and some steel belts....making the formerly bulged area thinner and weaker. Also consider that the only reason it bulged to begin with, was the broken layers of rubber and broken belts on the inside of that bulge. Would you drive on a racetrack or jump railroad tracks in your car at 50mph after grinding that bulge down? |
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Quoted:
Mine wasn't a bulge. It was extruded. The bulge popped sending the nucleus out everywhere inflammating the f**k out of my lower back. Surgeon cleaned it up, extracted the runny egg yolk. If your disc ruptured and all he did was vaccuum up the mess, there is very little "spring" left at that disc level. That means the discs above and below have to take the brunt of the work from running, jumping, twisting, lifting,.... If it's a small pickup game with mild jogging and some layups, that disc level shouldnt get much worse, there's nothing left to push out.......but if your buddies go hard, I'd stay home. |
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I herniated my L-5/S-1 disc doing standing curls.
Sounded like a firecracker when it popped. Didn't know what I did, but it hurt like hell. It was so bad that I had a fusion done two years later: bad disc out, spacer in, plates, screws, etc. Released back to regular duty (LEO) 6 months later. The first thing I did when released to work was leave the Surgeon's office, drive home and work out with kettlebells. I had to go back to my little one (35lb) at first and work up to my larger ones, slowly and over time. I also do other excercises and intermittently jog and use elliptical machine. I'm very active and my mobility/flexibilty really isn't restricted, but I work at it to keep it that way. I rarely feel the plates and screws, until I have to pick up alot of dead weight like a body or a resistor who won't stand up. DON'T PISS AROUND WITH A BACK INJURY!!!! Push it like I did and you'll find out the hard way. My legs wouldn't work and I couldn't even stand at times. I don't mean because of pain, I mean because I could not feel them or make them move. DO NOT PLAY BASKETBALL WITH AN INJURED BACK! |
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I'd echo what others have said. Don't do it. I haven't had back surgery, but was in a OR countless times to witness them and spoke to the neurosurgeon on a few occasions. Hearing him talk about how the injuries happened, what the rehab would be like, etc.; you really need to take it easy on your back. It is not, and never will be 100% after a surgery due to injury.
Are you discussing your exercise routines with your surgeon/doctor/physical therapist? Make sure they know what you're doing and clear it otherwise you might be tempting fate. Remember, your spine supports your whole body. Don't push it. 
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Quoted:
I had a L5-S1 microdisectomy in Dec. 2012. Original injury was due to a body slam on solid piece of wood that went around the soft mat (grappling). Suffered with dibilitating sciatic pain for 4 years. Decided to get a microdisectomy. I recovered fast and took it easy after the surgery. I'm not at 100% but the intense right-leg sciatic pain has diminished by 90% or so. I can live pretty comfortably now without meds like oxycodone and horse sized ibuprofen tablets. I went to a neurosurgeon who is rated one of the top 10 in the US, and he frequently operates on athletes. He did a great job, even though I'm not at 100%, but pretty close. I've been lifting weights for a couple months and just started jogging last month and I can do the elliptical at speeds of 5-6 mph for a full hour non stop. I'm 6'4", 280, broad (size 50 jacket, 38in waist) lots of muscle and some belly fat, so I'm not as fit as I would like to be, but I'm getting there. I really want to play basketball tonight with friends. I have the post surgery brace and it is solid. It looks like Kevlar bullet proof armor with plastic plates and all. The thing is solid. I put it on tight and jumped for the first time in many many years and I felt pretty good. Pro athletes (yes I'm aware I'm not a pro athlete) get back surgeries and get back in the game. Would you play basketball tonight if you were me? Almost 60yo here back pain, leg pains, struggle to play with kids 40 years my junior. Start by working out your ball handling, your j's, half speed full court, or play 2 on 2's or 3 on 3's, be careful with the open lanes, threading the needle and take it easy with the rebounds or throwing your body at open balls or balls about to go foul. I am 1 foot shorter than you and just got my mouthguard, guys your size are always elbowing me. As old as I am I am still getting picked up saving the embarrassment of calling next One of your best indicators is a 1 on 1 game, see how you feel, can you attack, can you defend? In a game pair up with a newbie so you can just attack |
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NOPE.
Why don't you just chill the fuck out dude? I had and L5/S1 TLIF fusion this past Feb. I still have some aches and nerve pain. Am I better than I was? HELL YES. I still won't pick SHIT up off the ground that's over 25lbs even though I know I can. A case of being shell shock is not always a bad thing. |
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Quoted: NOPE. Why don't you just chill the fuck out dude? I had and L5/S1 TLIF fusion this past Feb. I still have some aches and nerve pain. Am I better than I was? HELL YES. I still won't pick SHIT up off the ground that's over 25lbs even though I know I can. A case of being shell shock is not always a bad thing. I wrenched something about three days ago just doing chores. Now I can barely get around without hollering in pain and I'm using the damn cane again! Take care of your body. I would NOT play. If you do, don't be surprised if you end up in trouble again. |
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Oh, on a small derailment:
I've had 3 Lt shoulder surgeries in 5 years from being hard headed and trying to continue to live life just as I did before the original injury. My back surgery? If doc told me to sell cupcakes in traffic wearing a dress I'd do it. A back isn't something you want to fuck around with. Remember this. IT LETS YOU ENJOY BEING A MAN. Derail done. 
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I ended up playing.  .
I'm very competitive and probably pretty stupid when it comes to taking risks. It's probably all psychological. I used to weigh around 215-220 before and could dunk pretty easily. I feel like that's who I am. A poor mans Dwight Howard, with great defense, steals, and the go to guy for rebounds/put back shots and post up shots. Tonight was depressing and I realized that I'm not that guy anymore, at least at this point in time  . The added fat gain/muscle loss from the back injury and time away from playing basketball made me mediocre at best. There were a lot of new guys there (yes, my friends were there too). I kinda mentioned I had surgery, before we started the first game (full court 5 x 5) and I was wearing my brace the first game. I didn't want to sound like a bitch about it, so I just said it like a heads up. My friends were all cool when I played against them. I realized the compression brace was preventing me from breathing right, so another risk, I flung it off mid-game. One of the other tall guys covering me knew I took it off and started being really defensive against me, pretty aggressively, in the paint (his gf was there and watching  ), elbowing my back on purpose, saying to "keep up" etc. basically trying to fuck with my mind and back. This continued for a while and I put up with it until he ripped the ball from my hands on one possession. Ball fell to the floor, I grabbed it, like true deutsche bag (this is church basketball (in a really nice gym) but people can invite whoever) he gets down and tries to muscle it away from me. He wouldn't give up, so I head butted him hard (probably anger associated from my sub par performance) aiming for his face. I ended up getting his elbow and he immediately let go "what the fuck? Did you just head butt me?" I said "yeah I head butted you". So maybe I was the deutsche but I didnt care. We were separated and I think after that incident we were actually somewhat cool with each other. My game started coming back eventually, but I've got a long way to go.
Back feels fine. I was jumping, grabbing layups, running, etc. I feel like a million bucks (post-game). It was a great workout.. I might feel bankrupt tomorrow, but no injury done to the back. Maybe I got lucky, but I want to live and at least do some of the things I did before the injury. I've turned my back on my beloved Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, wrestling, MMA fighting. I'm going to do whatever I can in the gym to make myself stronger and healthier. I'm not going to let this back incident control my life. Maybe I'm naive and stupid, but that's really how I feel and it's hard to change that. I dunno. Y'all will think I'm being stupid, and maybe y'all are right |
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I would play. I had L5-S1 disc cut out June 10 of last year, replaced with a plastic one and everything bolted together. In August I was out filming hog hunts with the discovery channel, I spent the first week of December at Disneyworld riding all of the rides and by 8 months after the surgery I was out doing whatever I wanted.
It hurt like shit for a while and pain killers kept me going and able to do what I wanted early on and after a while the pain was manageable without handfuls of pills. You only live once and could die in a fiery car crash tomorrow. Have fun, be nice to people and get all out of life that you can. |
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The day of the surgery, I told the nurse I wanted to walk. They said no, I kept insisting. They finally let me walk. 2nd day at hospital I could walk fine. They said they had never seen such quick progress on the 2nd day, walking normal without assistance, less than 24 hours from the operation.Took off 2 months cause I thought it would be worse/more difficult to deal with, I could have been back in 2-3 weeks (office job that requires walking about 20% of the time). Used the time to scour for parts online and build my first AR15 . As for sex, was able to start 4-5 weeks post op. No issues.
I'm in my late 20's, by the way. |
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The day of surgery I remember before ok but only bits and pieces afterwards. I got up and walked the day after but it was nowhere near "normal" walking but I probably had a little more done than you. I had about a 6" incision across my stomach and two 4" incisions along either side of my spine, so I hurt on both sides and the inside. The first week was pretty damn painful.
The big thing they worried about for me was twisting and pulling the screws out of the bone. It was several months before I could really twist with any force without having to worry about tearing anything up. It's been just over a year and my back is way better than it was before and it's still getting better. Now when I do anything intense it's usually just sore afterwards for maybe a day or so where in the past it might be sore for a week. I can do everything that I was doing before I hurt it so that's the most important thing. 
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Quoted:
I ended up playing. .
I'm very competitive and probably pretty stupid when it comes to taking risks. It's probably all psychological. I used to weigh around 215-220 before and could dunk pretty easily. I feel like that's who I am. A poor mans Dwight Howard, with great defense, steals, and the go to guy for rebounds/put back shots and post up shots. Tonight was depressing and I realized that I'm not that guy anymore, at least at this point in time . The added fat gain/muscle loss from the back injury and time away from playing basketball made me mediocre at best. There were a lot of new guys there (yes, my friends were there too). I kinda mentioned I had surgery, before we started the first game (full court 5 x 5) and I was wearing my brace the first game. I didn't want to sound like a bitch about it, so I just said it like a heads up. My friends were all cool when I played against them. I realized the compression brace was preventing me from breathing right, so another risk, I flung it off mid-game. One of the other tall guys covering me knew I took it off and started being really defensive against me, pretty aggressively, in the paint (his gf was there and watching ), elbowing my back on purpose, saying to "keep up" etc. basically trying to fuck with my mind and back. This continued for a while and I put up with it until he ripped the ball from my hands on one possession. Ball fell to the floor, I grabbed it, like true deutsche bag (this is church basketball (in a really nice gym) but people can invite whoever) he gets down and tries to muscle it away from me. He wouldn't give up, so I head butted him hard (probably anger associated from my sub par performance) aiming for his face. I ended up getting his elbow and he immediately let go "what the fuck? Did you just head butt me?" I said "yeah I head butted you". So maybe I was the deutsche but I didnt care. We were separated and I think after that incident we were actually somewhat cool with each other. My game started coming back eventually, but I've got a long way to go.
Back feels fine. I was jumping, grabbing layups, running, etc. I feel like a million bucks (post-game). It was a great workout.. I might feel bankrupt tomorrow, but no injury done to the back. Maybe I got lucky, but I want to live and at least do some of the things I did before the injury. I've turned my back on my beloved Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, wrestling, MMA fighting. I'm going to do whatever I can in the gym to make myself stronger and healthier. I'm not going to let this back incident control my life. Maybe I'm naive and stupid, but that's really how I feel and it's hard to change that. I dunno. Y'all will think I'm being stupid, and maybe y'all are right Don't let them mess with your head...I get "old man", "Uncle Jew", "grandpa" "Jerry-Lewis-atric", your teeth fell out..but after the game it's handshakes and hugs and a crapload of questions on breaking down moves. I had maybe 200 signature moves in my prime if I can sell 20 today it's a stretch. I play with a guy a little younger who had hip surgery, back surgery, both knees replaced...he is proud of the stitiches, his nickname on the court is Black Frankenstein |
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Fellow grappler, I respect it!
That being said, for the love of God NNNOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! That accident should have been a wake up call to not take your body for granted. If anything do things that will strengthen your weak areas but just to the point where they are being exercised and thats it. I used to powerlift in high school and college and do BJJ. I hurt my back pretty bad (compression fracture) down near the lumbar, so I stopped doing dead lifts and squats per my MDs orders for 4 years. I started up again but at maximum I only squat 155 and deadlift 155. That's what I used to warm up with and now thats all I do. So I didn't stop it completely, Im just doing the bare minimum to make sure that those muscles are still exercised and so that I can still protect and strengthen my injured area. I still do bjj, but I don't compete anymore, and its just nice athletic paced rolls mostly for the cardio. Just be careful and don't push your luck man. If it was your job and its what puts food on the table, Id say go for it all the way. Short of that, Id say look for alternative means of exercise and comradery |
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I have a bunch of screws in my back from an L4-L5 replacement, and a L5-S1 fusion, done back in early 2011 a few months before retiring from the Military. I still take it easy. You have forever to lay in a casket taking it easy, you only have a short time to enjoy life. Unless you enjoy taking it easy then win/win! 
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