buttock nerve pain post microdiscectomy

Tagged: Symptoms after a microdiscectomy

Viewing 6 posts - 49 through 54 (of 74 total)

Previous 1 2 3 … 8 9 10 11 12 13 Next

Author

Posts
seb_nied
Participant

February 23, 2021 at 2:18 pm

Post count: 24

#33649

Hi!
Just wanted to give a brief update.
I got my epidural injection for my S1 nerve root yesterday. It’s hard to say if I feel better or not, and I know the effects might come in up to a few weeks, but for now I cannot say I feel a noticeable improvement.
In the meantime I’m doing physio since two weeks working mostly on my core strength with exercises which are neutral on the spine.
In my initial routine I had cat/cows and nerve flossing but I felt these were a little too much and my physio made me switch to exercises while laying down plus some more core strengthening which felt good.
I will see how this goes for the next few weeks until my next MRI on the 15th of March which will hopefully show if there’s an improvement or not.
Fingers crossed!
Sebastian

Donald Corenman, MD, DC
Moderator

February 27, 2021 at 11:56 am

Post count: 8660

#33665

Good luck! Keep us informed

Dr. Corenman

PLEASE REMEMBER, THIS FORUM IS MEANT TO PROVIDE GENERAL INFORMATION ON SPINE ANATOMY, CONDITIONS AND TREATMENTS. TO GET AN ACCURATE DIAGNOSIS, YOU MUST VISIT A QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL IN PERSON.

Donald Corenman, MD, DC is a highly-regarded spine surgeon, considered an expert in the area of neck and back pain. Trained as both a Medical Doctor and Doctor of Chiropractic, Dr. Corenman earned academic appointments as Clinical Assistant Professor and Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and his research on spine surgery and rehabilitation has resulted in the publication of multiple peer-reviewed articles and two books.

george
Participant

March 21, 2021 at 5:50 am

Post count: 10

#33766

Hello,

How are you felling now? Any improvment after the epidural?

george
Participant

March 21, 2021 at 6:37 am

Post count: 10

#33767

Hello,

Dr Corenman, a short recap of my situation, if I may:
I am now 3,5 months away since microdiscectomy L5-S1
1 month post op. MRI shown :
-bone edema occurrence in the adjacent vertebral plateaus with caudal migrated left paramedian disc herniation L5 compressing the left root S1
In the meantime the pain on left side has been reduced, but one month ago I started to have pain in my right leg,which I never had before, nerve pain, pain down the leg and in my bottock, like I was having a herniated disk on the right side .
3.5 month post op. MRI shown:
-rectilinear lumbar spine, without axis rotations, L5-S1 disc dehydration with preservation of intervertebral space
-herniated disc fragment postero-median L5-S1
-Bone edema lower vertebral plateau L5
-without signal changes at the structural level of the lumbar spine and the posterior articular mass
-without signal changes in the medullary cone and tail
-without tumoral formations
Could you please tell me what do you think, the fragment from left para-median reherniation as shown in the one month post op MRI has shifted to postero-median position? Is the pain that I feel in my right leg because of this ? Is that possible?

Thank you .

Donald Corenman, MD, DC
Moderator

March 21, 2021 at 9:39 am

Post count: 8660

#33768

It is hard to know if the fragment crosses midline or if it is even on the left side. (“3.5 month post op…herniated disc fragment postero-median L5-S1”). I will assume it is on the left side and had shifted from the first post-op MRI.

If there is no right nerve compression, this could be “cross-over” pain as pain tracts cross over from one side to the other in the spinal cord. That would assume that the right leg pain is less than your left leg.

Dr. Corenman

PLEASE REMEMBER, THIS FORUM IS MEANT TO PROVIDE GENERAL INFORMATION ON SPINE ANATOMY, CONDITIONS AND TREATMENTS. TO GET AN ACCURATE DIAGNOSIS, YOU MUST VISIT A QUALIFIED PROFESSIONAL IN PERSON.

Donald Corenman, MD, DC is a highly-regarded spine surgeon, considered an expert in the area of neck and back pain. Trained as both a Medical Doctor and Doctor of Chiropractic, Dr. Corenman earned academic appointments as Clinical Assistant Professor and Assistant Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and his research on spine surgery and rehabilitation has resulted in the publication of multiple peer-reviewed articles and two books.

seb_nied
Participant

March 22, 2021 at 5:43 am

Post count: 24

#33781

Hello George, Hello Dr. Corenman,
Just recapping my whole situation.
Herniated disc with light symptoms (back pain with positice straight leg test, no leg pain) started in September 2020.
Symptoms got worse in November to extreme leg pain and to a point where I could not walk or sleep for a duration af a week.
Symptoms partially resolved and I was relatively pain free but motor weakness was present in my leg and after a recommendation from two surgeons I decided for surgery as the massive herniation was completely smashing my S1 root.
December 30th 2020 – Decompression from large L5-S1 herniated disc.
Pretty much normal symptoms after surgery, little nerve pain, back pain near the incision.
Three weeks after surgery I had a small accident sliding on ice after which I felt my symptoms slightly aggravated but not dramatically.
January 28th 2020 – MRI which shows potentially some remaining disc fragment or scar tissue on the level of S1 root but not a clear RDH. Looks there is some sort of “blurred” area where the previous herniation was which might be affecting the nerve root but the sagittal view does not show any disc protrusion. My doctor suggested to try EPIs and start physio 6 weeks after surgery and check again the situation with another MRI. If this does not help he proposed a revision surgery to “clean up” what’s left.
I had two EPIs, started physio and cannot say that I have seen any big improvements in my symptoms. I still feel pretty weak, have pain in my hamstring, calf and foot (last 3 toes) and occasional back pain in the lumbar area. Prolonged standing makes the symptoms worse, laying alleviates the symptoms. I usually have 4-5 days of relatively low pain and 1-2 days of aggravated pain which force me to lay down for most of the day to recover. This cycle is relatively constant from end of Jan.
March 15th 2020 – New MRI which shows no substantial change from the previous one. Still no indication of a severe S1 compression, and there is still this “blurred” spot where the old herniation removed by the surgery was. Looks slightly less pronounced though.
My first surgeon is proposing again a revision surgery based on these results.
I will now consult this new MRI with another surgeon to get a second opinion as the image is not really clear to me. My osteopath/physio is recommending to wait it and if in 3 to 6 months my symptoms are not getting better then consider a revision surgery.
In general I have to say that I feel worse that before surgery. I feel weaker and I feel that the nerve pain is present more often. I think motor weakness is relatively the same or perhaps slightly better, definitely not worse (I lost a big part of my leg muscles), but pain is definitely worse. Back pain is also worse. I felt I could do more before surgery while now, almost 3 months after surgery I feel really weak.
I frankly don’t know what to do now, as surgery does not feel like the solution of the problem being the nerve compression not that severe.
Just as a reference, I’m 32yo and before the surgery I was a rock climber at an advanced level but normally had a desk job which involved sitting for most of the day.
Any additional feedback would be appreciated!
Sebastian
Author

Posts

Viewing 6 posts - 49 through 54 (of 74 total)

Previous 1 2 3 … 8 9 10 11 12 13 Next

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.

Donald Corenman, MD, DC

Average rating:

81 reviews

Eric S

Sep 26, 2021

by Eric S on Donald Corenman, MD, DC

Successful pars repair at 46 years old

Back in November of 2018 (at 46 years old) I came from Vancouver BC to have a pars repair done with Dr. Donald Corenman at the Steadman Clinic in Vail Colorado. I'm finally posting this review nearly three years later in late 2021. The reason I waited so long was I wanted to know the final result before I posted my review. Unfortunately in that time Dr. Corenman has retired. Nevertheless, I want to post this review of Dr. Corenman and his staff at the Steadman Clinic in their excellent treatment of my L5 pars interarticularis.

I fractured my pars at age 42 back in 2014 when rolling on the gym floor, and was denied treatment by the Canadian healthcare system, probably due to my age. First my GP told me there was no surgical option for a pars defect, which was quite incorrect! I tried to live with it, but the symptoms worsened (periodic random spine slippage and weeks of resultant pain after just bending over to tie my shoe, so I eventually learned to mostly squat and hardly bend). When I finally consulted with Canadian spine surgeons, I was told they believed my pars defect had been congenital (since birth). This was absurd, considering I had done extreme martial arts (including jiu jitsu) for years prior, as well as 5 years of reinforcing steel full time in my 20s, probably the hardest job on the back you can find. No pars defect like mine would possibly have allowed this--ergo it was impossible that I had had the defect since birth. I did however have an asymptomatic congenital spina bifida occulta that made me more susceptible to a pars fracture. In 2014 in one instant, I went from having the strongest back people I knew said they'd ever seen, to being unable to safely bend over and tie my shoe without a non-negligible risk of my spine slipping randomly (which would lead to weeks of pain after each occurrence). This was due to the unilateral L5 pars defect, otherwise known as spondylolysis. It was when lying in pain on the floor 4 years later after maybe the 6th spine slippage event post injury, that I had had enough, and resolved to have surgery. If Canada's "universal health care" said no, I would make lemonade from lemons, and find the very best surgeon in the world at pars repairs. That was Dr. Donald Corenman. Dr. Corenman back in 2018 ran a website https://neckandback.com/ that dedicated many pages to the science of every aspect of pars repairs, from eligibility (good discs on MRI), to best surgical techniques (minimal open compared to minimally invasive), best imaging to use (i.e., O-Arm with Stealth imaging vs. older fluoroscopy), the ideal amount of BMP to use and why not use too much or too little, and much more, all to do with pars repairs, pages upon pages of his site just on the pars, with scientific references and his own extensive expert opinion. As a health research statistician, I was very impressed with this. It was in stark contrast to the websites of other spine surgeons which barely gave the pars a word or two, focusing almost exclusively on fusions. I had found the best surgeon in the world for pars repairs, and so after Dr. Corenman personally screened my MRI to ensure my discs were healthy, I booked the surgery.

Being 46 years old at the time of surgery in 2018, with a 4-year-old pars fracture from 2014 combined with a congenital SBO meant my pars fragment was somewhat atrophied, but it was "very solid", said Dr. Corenman in the operative report. Nevertheless, it was challenging with two things to fix, the pars and SBO, and OR time was around 4 hours. Recovery over the following months was guided by a very clear "Spine binder" from the Steadman Clinic with strict rules of "no BLT" (no bending, lifting or twisting), and illustrated physiotherapy guidelines. They even warned patients to avoid fish oil supplements, which could excessively dampen inflammation and hence slow bone healing. They answered many questions I had during months of recovery, with responses coming from the very supportive Lori Fugate (then director of Dr. Corenman's practice), and Ehrich Bean (then physician's assistant at the practice), as well as a couple calls with Dr. Corenman himself after two of the CT scans. Ehrich Bean offered great advice for taking the spine binder conservatively due to the nature of pars repairs vs. fusions. The final post-op CT scan I had was a couple weeks ago at 34 months post-op, and Dr. Corenman had retired, but I got a very positive and informative call from Eric Strauch (current PA at the Steadman Clinic under Dr. Corenman's replacement there, and who had also worked with Dr. Corenman previously). The staff at the Steadman Clinic were extremely supportive all the way through the process. I should mention, the local Canadian spine surgeon did offer me very good post-operative support including antibiotics as needed to deal with a mild surface incision-site infection early on, booking numerous x-rays when I felt something was amiss, as well as booking all four of my post-op CT scans. I am very grateful for that support also.

My final result shows plenty of solid bone across the pars and a healed SBO, with my vertebral body now a solid bone ring instead of being broken at two places as it was pre-op. Does my spine hold up in the real world? You bet! I have recently dug and moved several yards of dirt and sand and gravel by myself (shovel and wheelbarrow!) to fix our water main, pulled roots from the yard, moved several "portable" (these are HUGE) air conditioners up several flights of stairs my myself, and lifted weights. I now run 2 miles (3.2 KM) several times weekly with a hard 100 meter dash in the middle. I bend deeply before each run I go on, with no spine slippage. My spine feels amazing. I can bend over to do exercise, or real word tasks, with no risk of spine slippage.

My sincere thanks to God, Dr. Donald Corenman, Lori Fugate, Ehrich Bean, Eric Strauch, and the Steadman Clinic, as well as the Canadian spine surgeon who offered me excellent post-operative care back in Canada. You have all given me a new lease on life.

Sincerely,
Eric S

Robert S

May 11, 2021

by Robert S on Donald Corenman, MD, DC

Back Fusion Surgery

I had my entire lumbar spine fused in November of 2018. I had scoliosis , with pinched nerves that were so painful I could hardly walk - and standing for more than a few minutes was impossible. Even sitting was painful.
The fusion surgery produced immediate relief! And the recovery was much easier than I expected.
To this day I can do all the activities I love from hiking, to standing in a stream fly fishing to riding my bike long distances - or just walking down the street with my wife.
Kudos to Dr. Corenman and his staff, (including the two Erics) for taking such good care of me!

Leslie R

Jul 9, 2020

by Leslie R on Donald Corenman, MD, DC

TLIF

I had my TLIF surgery on 6/24/2020 by Dr. Corenman, I can not say enough good things about the Dr or his staff. I was always treated with respect and explained everything throughly, that made it easy for everyone to understand. I highly recommend Dr. Corenman and the Steadman Clinic.

Submit your review
First Name, Last Initial:
Email:
Review Title:
Rating:	1 2 3 4 5
Review:

Check this box to confirm you are human.
Submit Cancel