I have stenosis with some shifting between L 4 and L 5 . The neurosurgeon told me i need an operation and will never be able to run again. Has anyone had this , had it fixed then continued to run ? I would be willing to travel to get it fixed.
Get a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th opinion before any surgery.
And don’t believe that if you have surgery, you will never run again. Too many people are doing just that.
Prepare to learn more than you want to know about your spine and the options available.
Best wishes!
G
Anyone know any GOOD surgeons in Missouri–Illinois–Kansas–
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I have had two lower back surgeries and enjoy running and doing ironman triathlons. Back surgeon…Dr. Phillips at Rush Orthopedics in Chicago. Don’t let anyone tell you what you can and cannot do, Dr. or not. Go see a Sports Dr./Neuro/Spine specialist and go from there. Good luck, kevin.
In 2005 I was diagnosed with an L5/L5 herniation that caused stenosis, narrowing and sciatica pain. I exhausted every option before consulting surgeons, and when I did, I consulted probably 4-5 of them, orthopedic and neuro. They all said I wouldn’t be able to run again; I was very comfortable with a highly recommended surgeon at Hopkins and decided to proceed with a laminectomy and discectomy. At the last second my surgeon told me that one of his associates would do the operation. I was in college and desperate to get fixed ASAP so I could get back to racing track and xc. Two years later I was able to race my senior year, and have been racing and putting about 40 mpw in since. That was up until about 2 months ago, when I reherniated my disc, and the combination with the scar tissue from the surgery has me in heaps of pain and even worse stenosis, now i’m consulting surgeons again. Over the last 5 years I’ve learned so much about the back/spine I feel like I know as much as the doctors I see. If I would have known what I know now I would not have had my first surgery. If any of the surgeons now tell me that I will not be able to run again, I will walk out of the office. As mentioned above, make sure to consult other surgeons, get 3rd, 4th 5th opinions, exhaust all other options first, it’s not something you want to rush into, i regret doing that. Sorry for the long winded answer, but hope it can help, running post surgery should be totally do-able, especially if you put the recovery time in.