ISPINE.ORG Forum - I'm new here and need some help!

Hello everyone, my name is john and I have had lower back pain for the last six years. To save everyone I will just touch on the high points, I had a TLIF in 04 for a bilateral pars defect at L4-L5 with rods and screws. Some 13 weeks after the surgery I was complete pain free, I felt so good that it didn’t even fell like I had surgery at all! Before surgery I had a biomechanical dysfunction in my walk and now that was all gone I don’t fell spineless anymore. The problem started when a PT over stretched my right leg to the point that I felt something tear, so thus the result was the same pain symptoms were back and biomechanical dysfunction.Several weeks later I go to the Surgeon and explain in detail what happened. He blew off the fact that I felt something tear along with the pain returning and told me the muscle will take some time to heal.

Some two years later after trying everything swimming,prolotherapy, Pt(twice), neuraltherapy , even wearing special shoes I was still in pain. So I go back to the original surgeon almost two years to the day of the surgery and demanded that he do something!After taking xrays and seeing the fusion is solid then he decides to remove the hardware. I was so relieved, because I know that now the tissue damage will be fixed and I’ll be on my way to work. The surgery was in AUG 06 and just like I suspected the surgery fixed the tissue problem. It restored my biomechanical dysfunction and I no longer felt spineless. The Doctor instructed me not to wear a back brace so the muscles can get strong and like most I listened and now my problem is back. This time I might have done it, I leaned over in a chair and felt something pop and give. I was pushing the limits due to the fact I was almost pain free not thinking, but see if I was wearing a brace this won’t of happened. A brace is a mental reminder of your limitations, but most importantly providing the support to the structure to heal correctly. Are you bored yet.

The doctor who performed the surgery was a neurosurgeon, now looking back they really don’t think pain is present if you don’t have a disc or nerve problem they overlook the surrounding tissue. Once again the surgeon tells me it will take some time for the tissue to heal. So, I decided to go to an orthopedic surgeon as matter of fact I went to the Atlanta Falcons spine surgeon figuring he would be familiar with soft tissue injuries. He ordered MRI and EMG along with some xrays, everything came back negative like I knew it would. I explained to him in detail that I have no control when I walk and I cannot contract the muscles on the right side. He checked this and to my full understanding of my problem he couldn’t believe I knew what the problem was, but here is the kicker he knows what the problem is but can’t do anything about it. I told him if it is insurance due to the fact no tests showed anything that I would pay for the surgery out of my own pocket. Maybe it’s the FDA I really don’t know.

The last visit to the original surgeon I had him explain in detail what muscle was cut to perform the hardware removal. He told me the lumbar facia and he stripped muscle from the spine at the tendon region of the sacro-spinalis out to the transverse process, so I can only believe that is where the problem lies. Which makes perfect sense, because the sacro-spinalis muscle runs the entire length of the spine! The reason I say this is I had a sever pain in my upper back and neck which vanished after both surgeries. Well I thank you for reading this post and hope maybe finding this forum I will find a Doctor who is not afraid to help a patient even if it requires me flying around the world. Best regards, JOHN PETERS.