Do we need surgery for back problems?

As some one that has been dealing with back and neck issues (six herniated disk) since 1998 I can say that I will NOT have surgery until I am crawling and all other options have been tried and exhausted. Why? Because 99% of all the people that I have talked, which has numbered in the hundreds now, that have undergone back surgery do NOT get long term relief with the surgery. They have stated that they were better off before the surgery and wished that they hadn't have had it.

A slipped or misaligned disk can and is in most cases corrected by exercises you can do at home, in the truck and in some cases treatments from a chiropractor. These treatments have been proven to help correct the problem of a slipped or misaligned disk.

Your core muscles stomach, interal and external obliques are the ones that actually support your back and keeping them in shape will relieve a lot of the back problems that we as truckers are subject to. Unfortunately those exercises are the ones we hate the most, situps, crunches, leg lifts and a multitude of others.


I know there are some sucess stories but there is no way to determine if you are going to be one of those patients which is something that I personally do not want to gamble on at this point in mu life.

In fact after you have surgery, whether it's disk fusion, disk replacement, shaving the protruding disk to relieve the pressure on the nerve you in fact make things worse in some cases. Why? In the case of fusing disk(s) when the doctors fuses the disk(s) and put in the titanium cage and then adds the replacement bone to fill out the cage and gaps between the disk(s). It puts an additional stress load on the disk above and below the damaged disk(s) because of several factors. They drill into those disk to support the cage then insert screws to mount the cage That alone weakens the bone and then those disk that are supporting the cage, are also what helps restrict the movement of the damaged disk. Which in turn leads the break down of those disk at a much more advanced rate. So you are at risk again for additional surgery as the disk above and below break down due to additional stress and disk degeneration.

Disk degeneration is something that everyone under-goes as we get older and shouldn't be confused with Osteoporosis which is a whole new ballgame in its-self.

Disks) replacement hasn't been proven to correct the problem any better or to last any longer than disk(s) fusion. Once the disk is gone its gone and there is no putting it back.

Shaving the disk in fact will and does weaken the already damaged disk(s) leading to additional surgery and in some cases nerve damage from the surgery its-self.

SO think long and hard before you undergo any type of surgery on your back or neck. Get the facts and ask questions.

 

I would surely avoid back surgery if at all possible as well. I had a disk problem several years back and was told by a doctor that I needed surgery. I refused it, got more opinions, and finally got a doctor that sent me to a physical therapist.

The therapist turned the disk back around to it's normal position, then put me through several strength training exercises to build the muscle back up in my back to prevent the disk from moving again.

it has been several years since then, and I haven't had a problem since.

I realize that in some cases, surgery may be the only alternative, but no matter what it is, back, knee, or whatever, if you are looking at serious surgery, look for multiple opinions first. Some doctors are lazy and seem to have a habit of sending people to specialists to get cut on, when it is not necessary.

 

Some companies now offer health dialogues as part of the insurance programs. The folks that run the health dialogues promise to lower hospitalizations in part because options are discussed.

With the patient buying into his/her treatment means greater success. Barring health dialogues do research, get informed and ask questions of your physician. And if he can't answer them, get another physician.

 

Cybergal and Bullwinkle,
Could this be a live thread again?
I'm interested in people with back problems driving truck. I was out on the road for 3 months. When I started I was already having some back problems, like an hour of pain in the morning, then I'd get it worked out and be okay for the rest of the day. My back seemed to get worse and worse very slowly. Then when I got off the truck I found myself in agony for about the next month! Now, six weeks later, it has eased off and I'm kind of back to where I was in the first place. I'm in the process of getting this diagnosed -- MRI and the whole nine yards -- but it's going to take awhile to get things figured out. In the meantime I'm not well enough to drive and I don't know if I ever will be.
So here are my questions:
1) Is driving a truck hard on the back or are the seats good enough to overcome this? I found the seat to be really comfortable, but doctors and physical therapists seem to think it's really bad on the back to drive a semi. Are they harking back to the days when the seats really were bad? Or is this still true?
2) The article you quote at the beginning of this thread mentions surgery for when a vertebra has slipped forward (and that's my case). Do people ever drive with this condition?
3) Is it possible to drive after having back surgery (fusion, I think it's called)?
Are there some people out ther with experience of this condition who have either driven or become unable to drive? It's called (hang on to your hats!) spondylolisthesis, Grade II, and is basically that the L5 vertebra has slipped forward over S1 (sacrum) by about half an inch.
Thanks for any help!

 

This is good NightWind. I had/have the same trouble and the docs wanted to do surgery on me last Spring. After a nightmarish time with injections for a ruptured disc, and a blood patch that didn't seal, I opted for physical therapy and still do the exercises at home. These days I keep muscle relaxers on hand for extreme cases of sciatica and run to the massage therapist, back home, put on heating pad. Although still in a ton of pain, made it to work the next day without taking any pain meds. I sure looked like a little ol' lady walking into the scale office, but at least didn't miss work time lol. That nuerologist scared me to death when he told me in my case they would have to cut, put in a small plate with bolts etc. YIKES! NO WAY!!

 

I must be in the 1% your talking about.

After taking all kinds of pain drugs including morphine and getting injections, I had back surgery in November 2004. Two discs were removed between L4 L5, L5 S1 and carbon fiber cages with bone graft put in their place. Then 4 rods and 6 screws were put in to hold it all together. I came off all pain meds a month after surgery. My range of motion is much greater now than before surgery. Now, I won't say I'm pain free. If I stand too long on a hard surface or work too hard in the yard, I will have some temporary back pain but nothing I can't handle. My surgeon promised 50% improvement but I'm closer to 85-90% better.

This year I've had much bigger health problems but even those I have overcome and am returning to work this next week.

Rick