I'm 43 year old male, had my 1st episode at 23 bottom turning forehand on a head high wave my trunk twisted abnormally and bang, it was a bad one MRI showed a sequestered segment of disc in my spinal column, i was in Sth Africa, intense pain 24/7 that put in tears many times, i also had bad drop foot was flown home to Australia by travel insurance laying down to have an operation was told they wanted to remove the sequestered segment and also fusion of vertebrae..at that age was freaking out, surgeon told me i wouldn't surf again and to get a desk job... fast forward 2 weeks and see him again he didn't really remember me for follow up appointment and was acting weird, lot of confusion for me then the guy ends up front page of National newspapers after being busted in a nightclub with cocaine (he's very well known neurosurgeon this was in 2005)... i decided f**k all the specialists who told me only option was surgery and embarked on what i was told a useless non invasive rehab program, in that time the sciatic pain was so bad i wanted to jump out of window some nights no meds no position of rest could make it go away....after 8 very long months i had rehabbed enough to slowly get my life back and eventually into surfing again to this day i still have permanent nerve damage and i trip over my big toe if not on solid ground.... I've since done that disc again at work so bad cant even tie my shoelaces, my MRIs make me wanna throw up, horror pics!!! done my cervical 3 times, 1st was hand went numb, pins and needles and was getting cortisone shots under twilight sedation into back of my neck.... not fun.... currently as of 2 weeks ago having this 3rd time with my cervical its from doing too much weight lifting at the gym...... Ive been surfing my whole life never stopped, got a trade and have done all kinds of things, they are treatable as you say with discipline, for me walking, swimming, posture, diet and then just a shit load of time haha.... horrible things to go through.
BigRobinson, thanks so much for your experience. I can totally relate to what you wrote, ad somebody who has been through the surgical process and also has somebody who has helped many other people out of their disc crisis. ICAN imagine how much pain and anguish you have endured along the way, and the frustration felt by being obliged to stay out of the water and away from the gym. The discs of our spine are similar to the tyres of a car. If they get to the point where they have simply been worn down too much, the surgical option is often unavoidable. I had a huge fragment (1 cm) that migrated up inside the spinal canal and a 9 mm fragment that migrated down inside the canal. Lucky for me there was still plenty of disc space, so that during my micro-discectomy surgery, the surgeon managed to remove the fragments without compromising the disc space or the biomechanical function of the surrounding articulations . Please feel free to send your scans to me for another opinion. It seems like you understand what’s going on really well but you may need to consider surgery if nothing else can help you with the neurological symptoms ( referral down the leg etc) That said, I have worked with many clients over the years who have avoided surgery by doing the correct exercises, physiotherapy, chiropractic etc and have been successful at avoiding the underlying causative factors All the best mate
I'm 43 year old male, had my 1st episode at 23 bottom turning forehand on a head high wave my trunk twisted abnormally and bang, it was a bad one MRI showed a sequestered segment of disc in my spinal column, i was in Sth Africa, intense pain 24/7 that put in tears many times, i also had bad drop foot was flown home to Australia by travel insurance laying down to have an operation was told they wanted to remove the sequestered segment and also fusion of vertebrae..at that age was freaking out, surgeon told me i wouldn't surf again and to get a desk job... fast forward 2 weeks and see him again he didn't really remember me for follow up appointment and was acting weird, lot of confusion for me then the guy ends up front page of National newspapers after being busted in a nightclub with cocaine (he's very well known neurosurgeon this was in 2005)... i decided f**k all the specialists who told me only option was surgery and embarked on what i was told a useless non invasive rehab program, in that time the sciatic pain was so bad i wanted to jump out of window some nights no meds no position of rest could make it go away....after 8 very long months i had rehabbed enough to slowly get my life back and eventually into surfing again to this day i still have permanent nerve damage and i trip over my big toe if not on solid ground.... I've since done that disc again at work so bad cant even tie my shoelaces, my MRIs make me wanna throw up, horror pics!!! done my cervical 3 times, 1st was hand went numb, pins and needles and was getting cortisone shots under twilight sedation into back of my neck.... not fun.... currently as of 2 weeks ago having this 3rd time with my cervical its from doing too much weight lifting at the gym...... Ive been surfing my whole life never stopped, got a trade and have done all kinds of things, they are treatable as you say with discipline, for me walking, swimming, posture, diet and then just a shit load of time haha.... horrible things to go through.
BigRobinson, thanks so much for your experience. I can totally relate to what you wrote, ad somebody who has been through the surgical process and also has somebody who has helped many other people out of their disc crisis. ICAN imagine how much pain and anguish you have endured along the way, and the frustration felt by being obliged to stay out of the water and away from the gym. The discs of our spine are similar to the tyres of a car. If they get to the point where they have simply been worn down too much, the surgical option is often unavoidable. I had a huge fragment (1 cm) that migrated up inside the spinal canal and a 9 mm fragment that migrated down inside the canal. Lucky for me there was still plenty of disc space, so that during my micro-discectomy surgery, the surgeon managed to remove the fragments without compromising the disc space or the biomechanical function of the surrounding articulations . Please feel free to send your scans to me for another opinion. It seems like you understand what’s going on really well but you may need to consider surgery if nothing else can help you with the neurological symptoms ( referral down the leg etc) That said, I have worked with many clients over the years who have avoided surgery by doing the correct exercises, physiotherapy, chiropractic etc and have been successful at avoiding the underlying causative factors
All the best mate