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I was 20 at the time, now 22, and when I went through that whole process every doctor basically said no surgeon would touch my back given my age unless basically my disc finally just herniated. Even after seeing my MRI and my disk pushing on my nerves, they still took me through the PT/Chiro route for weeks on end until I finally said enough was enough and they recommended me for an epidural. I was basically sat down and told that they would never consider cutting me open unless epidural failed or my disc gave up the ghost.
I was kinda against the epidural as they tend to shorten the full lifespan of a disc and they are generally temporar, but it was either that or keep working with the PT. Luckily it worked and almost a year and half later and I don't have issues at the level I once did, I'll have small issues and bad days here and there is all.
Don't get complacent like I did, keep up the core exercises etc.
Age has nothing to do with it.
I should have done my surgery when I was in my late 20's. Suffered needlessly for years...
After I finally could't take it anymore, here is the steps I went through with the surgeon and insurance...
1. 2-3 months of PT
2. Nerve block
3. Discogram (very painful)
4. L5S1 fusion.
I would say this journey was about 8 months from PT to fusion. You must go through these steps or else insurance won't cover shit.
Depending on where your fusion needs to be done can help determine feasibility of a disc replacement. Typically there is no point in doing a disc replacement in the lower back. From my understanding from my surgeon, that would be reserved a lot more for upper back and neck area.
The L5S1 for example is a mostly useless thing. So doing a fusion there makes a lot me sense then a disc replacement.
Pit Row
My wife will need the same done eventually, just a matter of time.
Hopefully yours is manageable.
I have two discs that are pretty much gone, I had a laminectomy which helped tremendously. I still ride but have to take every precaution when I go ride.
If you are still able and want to ride, please spend the money in the best suspension you can afford, it makes a huge difference on vertebrae stress, and work as much as you can on your riding technique so you don't sit much, that made enough difference for me to still be able to ride virtually pain free.
Best wishes.
Dr Stuart McGill. He has some interesting and informative videos that deal with back pain and exercises
to strengthen your back. I would recommend doing a search for the Dr and checking out his videos.
I finally got 2 weeks off and 2 new bikes and couldn't ride a single day !! Spent everyday with the nerve pain shooting down my arm, between my shoulder blade and of course my neck itself. Haven had a descen night sleep in 2 weeks. I did cryotherapy treatments, which is an experience in itself. If you've done it than you already know this. Lol Holy cow that was COLD ! But it did do wonders for every part of my body, EXCEPT my neck.
I'm currently ingesting 100mg of CBD Products (Oils, edibles and even bought a VAPE pen) That shit is expensive too.... I'm still in a lot of pain and I started back to work today, 13 hours on my feet all day, which was like Chinese torture. I'm miserable right now and just hoping I can get past this again, without having surgery. I'll be too busy (working) for the next year to take that kind of time off to heal.
Good luck with your back, I've been lucky with mine. I've broken 8 vertebrates in the past, three differen accidents. (1- car accident, two motorcycle crashes), but I have no disc problems, although I'm stiff AF on daily basis, but I can live with that. My body is loaded with arthritis, I'm doomed !
I would try everything you can as affordable as you can before surgery. I’m an ex triathlete who was once a desert racer then got back into dirt bikes at 46 years old. I started to have a back issue. MRI showed bulged disc between L4 and L5. The chiropractor (who has a picture of him and Tiger Woods from a medical visit) I was going to suggested the MRI, saw it and said “you’re screwed” it will never heal you can only manage it. He suggested I stop running because he thought, based on other clients, that running was the culprit (he mentioned another Ironman who had 5 discs fused with surgery.) so I was disappointed. I then went to my “holistic” doctor for my 50th checkup (because I don’t agree with the normal you need a pill approach.). I’m not a big holistic believer but I’m not a “get on a pill” type of guy. So, the holistic doctor keeps probing me with questions on my physical, I finally tell him about my back and what my chiropractor said. He completely disagrees and says running isn’t an up and down motion. He says there has to be something else I’m doing causing the compression. I tell him about dirt bikes and he says that’s what it is way before running. So, I’m disappointed again. I then tell him about the chiropractor bad news about not healing. He disagrees and says there is this table machine called the DRX9000 or (something like that) that has healed many bulged discs, to the point where surgeons have kicked chiropractors out of their offices because of it. He says the downside is insurance doesn’t cover it and it’s a $5000 dollar commitment. He said it gets a bad rap because people quit half way through the treatment but those that complete it have incredible results.
I go back to my chiropractor who said I’m screwed and I tell him about this. He agrees with my holistic guy now saying he knows chiropractors who lost their A_ _ on that machine because insurance won’t cover it but it has had a lot of success. So, I researched it and wasn’t ready to commit to $5,000 in treatments based on reviews (. Although I know most of them quit half way through). So I reasearched more about this concept of stretching the spine and sucking the disc back into form. There was a natural healing website that had no interest in selling any machines. They recommended an inversion machine, a kneeling back machine, and one where you lay on it. I went with the kneeling machine for $300 because I would rather try that before $5,000. Well, the darn thing worked and healed my back. Anytime it starts to act up I go back in it and “bam” it works. It’s called the Nubax Trio. It even said the first 2 weeks it would get worse before it gets better. I didn’t believe any of this at first but it did work. I have no interest in the machine or what you do, just sharing an interesting story about doctors, opinions, and what worked for me.
My PT place was a spine and extemity health clinic, and they had the DRX9000 machine that they used on me to try and decompress my discs. I used it for about a month or two at 4-5 times a week for the first 2-3 weeks and steadily decined down, and I could actually feel a difference. As soon as I stopped doing it every day to every other day, the pain came back, and it was with a vegence. Really cool machine though. Once it starts to decompress your spine, you feel instant relief and almost weightlessness, Id usually take a nap through the treatment lol.
@TX and the age thing, I don’t think so either, but the doctors kept telling me that. They were afraid of making things worse with surgery at a young age. I’m sure my scoliosis probably influences that decsion in some way as well.
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