UKH

Looking for any experiences of spinal surgery. I am an "older climber" with significant disc bulges and spinal stenosis from L1 to L5 causing a lot of pain and neural symptoms and expect to be offered a surgical solution.  I would be interested if others on here have experience of this and how it worked out for you, to perhaps help inform my decision making.

Many thanks. 

I've had a micro discectomy to my L4/L5 disc in my early 30's.  it worked very well for me, completely alleviating the sciatic pain i was suffering.  recovery was pretty swift, swimming and cycling within a couple of weeks, and climbing within a couple of months.

Main takeway for me was how critical it was to gain / maintain core strength after the op.  i did this for a while then let it slide, and suffered a second herniation that also required a revision discectomy.  this second surgery also worked very well.  since then i've been doing pilates regularly and have had no real issues for ~12 years now

I'd be interested to hear how you get on

I've got stenosis to my cervical spine and also have had neural symptoms though they have currently eased, I'm trying to manage things with physio

Pleased it worked well for you and thanks for the guidance and for sharing....helps give a little confidence. 

I've had lumbar decompression surgery for spinal stenosis, as have Jon and other contributors here. Do a forum search for "Spinal Stenosis" to find two threads which should give you lots of ideas.

I had my surgery in 2015 at 64. Took a while to recover, but managed to get back to my previous climbing standard just about. Still climbing now. Not everyone has had quite as positive an experience. Going for surgery earlier rather than later seems to have better results.

Martin

Thanks for that Martin, and thanks to all those in the earlier threads who shared their experiences. 

Yes I have a similar condition in the same lumbar region, I have suffered pain and discomfort walking or climbing for several years now. This has limited my abilities in these activities but I try to keep going to maintain some flexibility. I was referred to Hexham spinal unit eventually (from Penrith) but it seemed that the protocol was to try Nerve Blocks first, this was during the pandemic era and stretched out over 2 years practically to have 2 procedures. For me they had very little effect, particularly the second time. The consultant seemed to be loathe to try surgery, although I was keen and eventually talked me out of a surgical option. I very much got the impression he was under pressure to reduce his waiting lists when he phoned to ask if I could manage sufficiently and that he could try a nerve ablation (burning) if not. I decided not to have that, I was worried about making it worse. Fortunately I now have an ebike and have discovered a whole new world of gravel/road biking without much backpain at all. 

Good luck

Following years of suffering with a loss of sensation in my left leg when walking, I had a laminectomy L4 - L5 and foraminotomy at L4 and L5 (left side) in 2020. The surgeon manage to screw up and touched the L5 nerve root which has left me with a permantently numb lower left leg and foot. 'Luckily' it's just the sensory nerve which is affected, the motor nerve is more or less OK, though my foot and calf lack strength. This means I can still climb but can't feel what I'm standing on. I find walking any distance very painful due to increasing problems at L3 level which some say is due to the surgery at L4 and L5.

Probably not what you wanted to hear, but if you can avoid surgery, I would. Try to exhaust all other options before deciding. And as coldfell said, an e-bike is the answer to the mobility problem.

Hope things work out, I know how you feel !

I had most of a disc removed in lower spine (I was 28, I’m 58 in a few weeks).  Lost quite a bit of mobility/suppleness, but I still managed the odd lower extreme rock climb and climbed harder ice than before my op. But I do get the odd flare up, usually doing something stupid like picking conkers off the ground. Bouldering would be a ‘no no’ as well. Not climbed in ages though. 

According to the grisly details of my MRI report, I have a spondlyolisthesis at L4/L5 causing severe canal stenosis and bilateral L4/L5 foraminal stenosis. This causes neural symptoms (pins and needles and numbness) and sciatic pain in the right buttock/leg. I can always feel the sciatic pain turn on when I straighten up my spine for the first time in the day! I intend to put off any surgery for as long as I can.

I'm posting in case it might be of interest to others to know that I've found Gabapentin pretty helpful in reducing the neural symptoms. I take 600mg three times a day. It's proved to be more effective than the Amitriptyline I was on before. Pain relief is Co-Dydramol plus Ibuprofen.

I was still climbing to a reasonable standard (E1) until a year ago, although the walk-ins were becoming more and more of a trial. Last year however was disappointing - which prompted a discussion with the doc and the change to Gabapentin. I'm hoping this year I'll be able to get back to where I was. I stretch between 30 and 40 minutes virtually every morning.

Good luck with it all!