I have bad lumbar disc disease with pain making xc skiing near impossible. I need either a fusion or if I'm lucky, a couple of artificial lumbar discs. Anyone out there skiing with artificial lumbar discs?
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Anyone have artificial lumbar discs?
- Thread starter mhmiller
- Start date
I'm looking at the same choice, L5-S1 fusion or disc replacement. I'm putting it off until i can't function painlessly (alpine skier). I already talked to a surgeon but I'm still able to train and ski without pain. The pain comes the next day. He told me the big differences between the surgeries but finished with it's six of one a half dozen of the other, for my case anyway. I wonder also what skiing will be like with a disc replacement or fusion.
If you have the replacement and continue to have problems, can you still have the fusion?
I just had my L4/L5 fused in Oct. 2019. I skied for the first time yesterday. Maybe a little early yet, I did go down a couple times... not hard and I was ok without pain.The hard part was getting back up. When I wasn’t falling and was making turns things were good. I kept things really easy, but all in all with time and exercise I will be able to ski confidently again. I have quite a few replacements... I have a right ankle replacement, a left knee replacement, a fused neck and a fused back. I’m still skiing, so don’t give up hope.
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- Jun 6, 2016
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Had high hopes for disc replacement when it first came out, but it seemed to be recommended only for lighter load locations at the time i.e. upper spine/neck, not lower spine, and there was no real consensus on efficacy yet. On paper it seems like it would be preferable to fusion, which often has a cascading negative effect on adjacent discs. Hoping to hear that things have improved on the replacement front ....?