excersizes to do after fusion back surgery

I had a lumbar fusion of l4-l5 in Jan 06, it is now 4 1/2 years later I have more pain now than I did before the surgery. I am taking pain pills up to 7 times a day. I have pain in my lower back where the fusion is, pain in my hips, buttocks, and down my legs soesn't matter what type of weather it is I have constant pain. I can't find a job because of the back surgery. Which sucks. I clean my house while in constant pain. So hate to be the bad bearer of news but for some people the surgery makes the pain worse not better.

Following a fall at work, I too have had a 360 bone fusion, l4-l5 & s1, had my surgery in 2010, had hardware removed in 2011 and I really do wonder if I made the right decsion to even have surgery at all. I feel as though all the surgery did for me was to give me new symtoms to have to deal with and the loss of so many things I loved to do in life, I am 38 and have 2 daughters, my oldest is 16, youngest is 9 and I can no longer rollar skate, ride a bike or ride rollar coasters with them, this is very discernning for me and has caused depression and anxiety for me. If anyone out there reading this is going back and forth with the desiscion to have this surgery, I say weigh your oppions hevely because I really do think if I had it to do over I would have said "NO".

I know how you feel. I had L3,4,5 fusion with pins and screws and bone graft from right hip 44 years ago - now 74. Have had 44 years of chronic back pain and now, in last few years, burning in quads with the least physical effort. Still looking for a solution.

Hello All, sorry to hear about persistent pain out there. I fell four years ago on my stairs, pain in left S1 area but being health care myself I told myself I was just bruised. Three years later I developed foot pain that progressed to leg pain took about 9 months to diagnose it as associated with my back. MRI showed my L4, L5 had slipped forward. I had a fusion in Dec 20011, took six weeks to even think I was going to be able to sit down again. I am back a work, working ten hour days three days a week. I take 30 mg of Cymbalta and 100 mg of Lyrica once a day.  I have been walking and doing various exercises in the deeper water which helped a lot. ( need to continue) I have just started riding a recumbent excercise bike about 10 miles, I want to do this at least 3 times a week.  I purchased a Slendertone Abd Belt that has various degrees of "shock" like stimulation.  It is so important to strengthen your abd muscles and core- but how do you do that if you have a back pain, Laminectomy or fusion? Sit ups are almost impossible!  I am not expecting a "six pack" abd, put I can tell you it really helps. I wear it and turn it on several times a day. It is assisting me in contracting my abds and strengthening them.  I recommend you try it. be persistent. 

Hello everyone...I'm 57 as of a few days ago and have had to deal with these pain issues since my early 20's. In 79 I was run over by a Semi truck and had my back broken the first time. 3 years later I had nearly a ton of sheet steel dropped on me in a lumber mill accident and broke it again. Eventually I had a laminectomy at L5-S1. This was becasue of the Insurance Co. The Dr. wanted to do a fusion but was denied. The Lam. failed as he suggested it would after only a few monthw and eventually I had to have the fusion anyway. That was done using the Bak-4 cages which I denied on the authorization form and requested traditional rods and screws. Was essentually slipped a Micky and the cages were used. At that time I had a severe Spondylolosthesis at L5-S1 which was not reduced so they just fused me out of whack. That has caused all kind of pain issues with my hips as my sacrum is out of line with my spine. It sucks big time. I found out due to more pain and instability issues that when the cages were put in the Facet joints at L4-L5 were cut out to make room. This caused total instability at that level. I also had a Pars Fracture at L3 that was to have been taken care of in the first surgery. In 2003 I had a surgery that was supposed to have taken out the cages at L5-S1 and redone that fusion and bridge me all the way to L3. Dr. started at L3 and the damage was so severe at that level the spinal cord had grown to the spine and it had to be separated from the spine before the fusion could be done. The Dr. ended up tearing a substantial hole in the spinal cord and stopped there. I needed 4 more surgeries over the next six weeks to repair the hole as I was leaking spinal fluid to the outside and I ended up with bacterial Meningitis and was hospitalized with that. Accordingly, the original issues weren't dealt with and the hospital refused to go bakc and try to fix what was started. This was the Portland, Oregon VA hospital. The Cage surgery was at Sacred Heart in Eugene, OR and was done by Dr. Robert lamer and he refused to see me once it was determined things had gone south. The instability at at L5-S1 eventually left me partially paralized and I stayed that way until Dec. of 2007 when my Senator stepped in regarding my VA surgery and The San Fran. VA took me on. A trip to them and they laid out what needed to be done and how it was going to be accomplished. I felt hope for the first time in years. My surgery was finally scheduled but as I was going in to surgery I was told I had a different Dr. as mine had no more OR time but not to worry, every thing was going to be done as scheduled. NOT!!! After surgery I was told by this new Young Dr that what had originally been laid out was not needed and so he used a new technique to just fuse L4-L5. I was just short of terrified. I was in the hospital for 6 days and finally released and the fusion failed withina month but at least the paralysis was gone and I could get around again. Fnially in 2010 a new head of surgery at Portland decided he would take me on and "do it right" this time. Surgery was done in Feb of 2011 and again after surgery, the Dr. said he had decided to switch gears and change plans. He ended up just redoing the L4-L5 surgery and not the rest of the work. Because of the other instability this surgery also has failed. So I'm back at square one. My life has been a nightmare of pain but I am convinced that if any of these Drs. would have done the job right the first time, I would not be in this condition. I do my best to not let pain stop me from living but I've not been able to get a "job" in 30 years and had never been able to accumulate enough subsequent quarters to be able to draw SSD. I finally started my own business but even there was only able to work part time at best. I tell you my story so you can see what happens when Drs. play God with us. There is a reason why a physican calls hiis business a "Practice". We are essentually guinea pigs for surgeons trying to make names for themselves. I don't know what is going to happen in my case but because of the way I've been dealt with, I will probably be in severe pain for the rest of my life. Whatever road you decide to go down with the Drs., get everything in writing as to procedure and Rehab before allowing any work to be done. Then make sure you hold your Drs. feet to the fire. I would still opt for surgery as in my case it's allowed me to walk albiet is painful. I cannot stand for more than a few minutes at a time, am very limited on excercise I can do and find other joints are failing due to having to pick up the slack. Good luck and may God bless you in whatever you decide to do... LeRoy Hileman

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Stiffness lasted for years I had full spinal fusion when I was13 I'm 30 now. I tried working out lifting & cardio when i was 18 but found I was too weak in upper body strength and gave up but I was still very stiff. Today I still have some awkward stiff ness( can't arch my back / do super sexy dance moves) but I work out now due to recent weight gain over the past few years. I'm scared of the weight on my back & possibly creating extra health issues. I'm about 30 lbs over weight was 70 at my biggest. I swim, run, walk, yoga (modified), Zumba, u-jam, and lift! Hang in there with the stiffness... Also if your upper back is tingly all the time it took YEARS for feeling to come back. 17 years later and I really can't tell I have had surgery I forget all the time. God bless all of you and I wish you a speedier recovery.

do you have rods and screws in spine?? Is TENs safe to use with them thanks Bev Australia

I had L5 also done and even though my leg pain is gone still have pain in the surgical area it has been 7 years

I'm going on 9 months n lord these pain gets me in such a bad mood especially with these cold weather n my left legs is starting to get really tired on me I want my life back smh

Hi, I am 47 yrs old and I just had a fusion of the L4-L5 in March of 2017. I felt it was probably the best decision that I made. I was in so much pain before that I was living on a heating pad at home and at work. The pain was so bad, the heat was the only relief that i could get - however, I developed "toasted skin syndrome" which is a heat exposure from using the heating pad to much and when they went to staple my back up - my skin was so thin that it tore and I then had an open burn/sore on my back and had to go to the burn unit and receive instruction on how to change dressings twice a day. But all said and done with that - everything has healed nicely and I have been cleared by my surgeon. The only issues that I am currently having is that I have arthritis in both my hip bursa's and I have some arthritis in my S1. I have had a couple injections in my hips, because my bursa's have been quite painful - However My Doctor has felt it is coming from my S1 - So we are going to do a Radio Frequency on that area, and hoping that will take care of it all. Other then that - I really feel pretty good and I am dieting and have lost almost 20lbs so far and starting to lift some light weights. As I loose more weight, I am going to try and increase my walking and maybe add in a stationary bike. I haven't been on any pain meds for a long time - I even had to have surgery on my knee in June before I could do therapy on my back because I had (3) tears. Everything went great there - I used to take Lyrica for the nerve pain - I did like that pill, however, my insurance wouldn't cover it - so we switched to Neurontin - it is ok - I don't feel it works as well as the Lyrica does. I am still on Celebrex too. My husband and I have started taking Tumeric to help with inflammation - I don't know if I can tell a difference - I was hoping that it will help me get off all of my other meds - but no luck with that..Wishful thinking I guess. I will just keep hoping for more improvement for the future. Good luck to everyone else - I know the road of back pain is not fun.

Exactly, That is so true