[quote]MartinL wrote:
Snoop- Any surgery around the spinal column is inherently risky. As yet, there is only experimental surgeries to repair discs. I do not believe in Disc removal/vertebral fusing. Too much loss of flexibility, never mind height.
To each his own… but I have had cervical diskectomy and fusion (C5-7) and while I have some slight reduction in degrees of motion, I also have 100% reduction in pain, and I have made a 100% return to normal weight lifting activity.
For the lower back area, the surgery is much more invasive. I have a good friend who had surgery to correct spondolothesis (sp?) 2 months ago. He still has a fair amount of pain, but it seems as though most of that is from the surgery itself. He has yet to become fully active, but is already a very happy former surgery patient.
As far as the loss of height goes… well, that doesn’t seem to make sense to me. In my case, I now have 2 fewer disks to compress. I guarantee that the cadaver bone implants and the titanium plate a will not allow any compression (loss of height) at C5-7 in my neck.
Good luck in whatever you decide.
LA