Back injury question

[Knoxville]

Anyone ever have an artificial disk replacement? I did a little bit of looking online earlier and it is becoming a little more popular in the US. There are currently 15 facilities in the US performing this operation. From what I can gather, there are two options, one made by Charite out of Germany. It is two metal disks with a rubber like material in between to allow movement and flexibility. There are spurs on the tops and bottoms to hold it in place. The other option are two little mini pillows that are inserted to relieve the pressure. I have a blown disk between L4 and L5 and I have a major bulging disk between L5 and S1. I tried all traditional treatments minus a fusion. I will not have the fusion done. Doing numerous back exercises has relieved the pain significantly, but it still bothers me at times. Just wondering if anyone has had this done or knows of someone who has had it done. And IF you know of someone who had it done, I wonder what their life in a gym would be like post surgery. Just thinking, that's all.

Knox

[Karategirl]

I have not had it yet myself - putting it off as long as possible.
Have you had the epidural steroid injection treatment yet? I have it once a year directly into the spinal disc sac and it makes a huge difference. My surgeon suggested it to buy me some time, and it works great for me.
KG

[Knoxville]

I've had 2 of the epidural steroid injections. I had one from a pain doctor that lasted for about 2 days, then on the follow up, he said he was going to give me the best that he could do. It was some of the most intense pain I have ever felt as he injected that into my nucleus. It felt like there was about 1000 needles poking the back side of my leg. Anyhow, it last for about 4 days and same old stuff. Mine is not bad enough to keep me from doing things, it's just an annoying tightness/pain that is always there. It's been 2 years and now I am just kind of used to it.

Knox

[Karategirl]

Sorry it didn't work for you - I am still hanging on with my injections.
I have spent a lot of time researching disc replacements, and have a couple of friends who work in R&D in this field.
Their advice to me has always been to wait as long as I can before having surgery due to the relatively short life-time of the disc (20 years prediction) and the complications during surgery.
I have been told that I have too active a lifestyle for me to be a good candidate, and I would either have to reduce my activities (heck no) or once the injections stopped working, go with a disc shaving surgery. Basically they go in and shave off the section of the disc that is bulging out and putting pressure on my nerve, which should buy me a couple more years in time.
I am incredibly lucky as my surgeon is actually the chief advisor to three big medical device companies and so he gets to see how these discs fail or succeed in patients. The fact that he is not willing to operate on me gives me an idea that it is probably not my best option.

[Primal Instinct]

Hey Knox,

Hold off on any artificial disk replacements for about a year if you can. I have a brainiac friend who developed a new system of replacements and is negotiating a contract deal worth several hundred million dollars with a big name pharmaceutical/orthopedics company that plans to market this new product to specialists throughout the world. I can't give many more specific details about it right now since this whole thing is still very private but I can assure you that you will be impressed by the science behind it. The amazing part of it is that it doesn't lose its form or consistancy and acts more like a real human disk than anything ever before. He even invented the tool to insert the artificial device as well. It is either finishing or has finished animal testing trials and human trials will be taking place very soon on a fast track basis. This would definitely be worth the wait, IMO.

[SonofBone]

I can't give many more specific details about it right now since this whole thing is still very private but I can assure you that you will be impressed by the science behind it. The amazing part of it is that it doesn't lose its form or consistancy and acts more like a real human di...

Yeah, they're called penile pumps & they've been around for years. :sillyfu:

Seriously, that sounds like some ground breaking stuff he has there. I realize that different amounts of stress are placed on different joints, but hopefully, the same or similar medium and principles that are in his technique can soon be applied to other joints such as the knee. Attempts to duplicate tissue that will work to effectively replace the meniscus have yet to be successful.

[Knoxville]

Sounds good, I'm going to hold off as long as I can. The way I am now I could wait a few years. I would like to have 0 discomfort one day, but I know that the longer I can wait the better. I can still pull a 550# dead lift so I'm not complaining too much.

Knox

Thanks for the heads up PI

[Puddles]

I just saw the orthopedic surgeon and he wants to do discectomy surgery and the chiropractor won't touch me anymore based on the MRI's and how I responded to his treatment. I have 4 herniated disks plus a few buldging. I don't have the best track record for surgeries and healing so I'm gonna try decompression first. Look into a machine called the DRX9000. Google it.

One of the mods on another board is a chiropractor and he has had great results using this method of treatment. It's expensive and time consuming for the first couple of weeks but from what I hear, it's got a fantastic success rate. My health insurance company won't pay for this kind of treatment but some do.

Good luck!