Here's a screen shot from my MRI before surgery. It took about two months from injury to surgery. I tried massage (at first I thought it was a pulled muscle), chiropractic, physical therapy, more physical therapy, and it just kept getting worse.

I am 100% better. Surgery was done at a local surgery center by a local neurosurgeon. I do get a little soreness at the surgical site from time to time but is very minimal. It has made me very aware of my movements and lifting activities which I think I'll be careful with forever.

After the procedure at my postoperative visit my surgeon said "you can do anything you want...except shovel snow", he said that's his #1 reinjury activity he sees. So I got a really nice snowblower out of the deal. [emoji4]

https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...f5e052c9ee.jpg

Sent from my Samsung GS7 using Tapatalk

Same here, but I had it done in 1994. Perhaps it has become a more precise operation since.

My discs were extruded and extended to the next disc space below.

I have been shoveling snow ever since. It's the little movements that lead to a problem for me, go figure.

Good points. I'm 45, active and in pretty good shape. My attitude in November while the pain was the absolute worst was that I wasn't going to let it beat me. I didn't miss a day of hunting and those days included walking 1/2 mile through a corn stubble field to and from my tree stand. The funny thing is it was hunting that triggered my problem. I was tracking a deer with a friend for several hours and was hunched over looking for blood. The next day the pain started coming on slowly. I could actually feel it coming! By the 2nd day after I could hardly stand on my left leg.
Ultimately I want to beat this without surgery but I have to wonder if I'm not fooling myself. A herniated disc doesn't go away and it isn't going to heal since there is no blood flow to the disc itself. It might move away from the nerve giving relief but it will still be there waiting for the next slip up.

Wow! You had about the same problem I have but I think your herniation at L5/S1 is actually much worse than mine. Glad the surgery helped. How long ago was your procedure? I expect there to be some pain after the surgery. I had arthroscopic surgery on my knee and still experience some grief where the incisions are.

Mine was done just under a year ago. I had surgery Friday morning went back to work the following Tuesday with only a little soreness. But everyone's experience is different I'm sure. I was very fortunate, some other people I know who went through this had a harder recovery than I did. I did do physical therapy for a couple months after and got some exercises that helped healing I'm sure.

Sent from my Samsung GS7 using Tapatalk

Thanks a lot for your input!

Wow, they must be getting better at it. i wasn't released from the hospital until 4 days after the surgery.
3 weeks later i went back to work, carefully!

I was scheduled at 6 am and was home on the couch by noon.

Sent from my Samsung GS7 using Tapatalk

Did they use a scope, or split ya wide open?

The neurosurgeon told me it would be about a one inch incision and would take about 3 hours with recovery time.

Lots better than the olden days.

They bent me over a V shaped table and cut my back wide open, about 8" long right through the muscles etc. That's what took so long to recover.



And the scalpel they used was just a sharp rock ;)

Sounds like mine. No sutures. The small incision was closed with super glue. Some surgeons are using a laser for the discectomy but there does not appear to be a consensus as to whether this is any better than a traditional approach.

Sent from my Samsung GS7 using Tapatalk

Nickshu, do you know which procedure you had done ? Im In the same boat as you guys except mine is L3 and I see the neurosurgeon on Monday, Its encouraging to hear your success and speedy recovery, seems that technology has improved a lot over the past 5-10 years.

Wow,

mine was 6½" hours, 4" scar and 2 months of recovery. I am so glad for you guys that had much less work.

I still suffer from debilitating muscle spasms and I had the surgery in '94.

Best of Luck!