What to Expect: Returning to Full Function after Scoliosis Surgery
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- Опубліковано 1 жов 2024
- Setting Scoliosis Straight Foundation presents:
2016 Patient Family Educational Event:
POWER OVER SCOLIOSIS
What to Expect: Returning to Full Function after Scoliosis Surgery
Presented by: Baron Lonner, MD
Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery
Mount Sinai Hospital
im 4 months after my own surgery! i was at 75° and now im at 16°. im much taller than i was before, (obviously)- and that makes me a bit happy. still waiting fpr my bones to fuse.
one thing to not expect if the rods are put in the upper back like mine were, YOU CANNOT SLOUCH. you physically cant,, and youre posture will be like royalty until you get comfortable. you may have shoulder blade pain(?? idk, i had this for about 4 weeks after surgery)- if most of the curve was in the upper back.
one thing i can say is to be very patient.
as for in the hospital: nurses might come in at night to turn you on your side every 1-2 hours, so dont expect any good sleep. you should go home in about 4-6 days, (i went home in 4 since i heal quickly, and the scar closed up quicker, plus i was able to walk quite well.)- you might be asked to walk laps, and maybe even stairs. your legs might/will feel very excruciatingly heavy.
thats it - anything before, i dont remember because of being so groggy from anesthesia .. hope this helps a bit.
Oh wow thank you so much!!!!
when u got out of the hospital would u be given like a wheel chair or crunches? or how does it work? do u fully have to get out of the hospital when u can fully walk?
ive got 72° and im due to be called in any time now. im 14 and the thing im worrying about the most is the sight of myself with all the needles. i had blood drawn today and i fainted. i dont know how im gonna cope with the constant needles
@Aqualis Yeah I was the same
@@imprx18 I wouldn't use either as you should work towards supporting yourself without the use of aid
I wish I could've had this video as a resource when I had my spinal fusion in 2016! Thanks for posting your series on scoliosis, because my doctor never told me so many things about my surgery and recovery. Also, the mental stress of the events surrounding surgery made me forget a lot of the patient education. Now I'm in nursing school and trying to figure it all out again now that I'm more health-focused.
Same here,I had my surgery abroad and cant find my doctor anywhere anymore so im in a really bad position rn, had my surgery 13 years ago and kinda wanna know if everythings alright so far
He’s the one who did my surgery 🙂....he’s great
I'll like to meet with you please... How can we meet either on WhatsApp, Instagram or any other social media?... I want to discuss and get some guides from you.
@@lionjudexvlog7133 some guides??
Drop me ur ig i need help
@@Asmi02 with?
@@shyanm.1115 bro Im 19 and i lift and i love it now i get back pains every week when I'm lifting. i got an xray and i have scoliosis. I dont know what to do i cant stop lifting i love it. If i do the surgery eill be unable to do any exercise
Had surgery in 2020, and I was a rather healthy case, leaving less than 24 hours after surgery, and requiring very little heavy meds. They usually don’t do that, but we had a three hour drive ahead of us and I was already standing and walking around without help. The only thing I couldn’t do was poop due to the meds.
That being said: If you are a parent or guardian or keeper of the meds of a person who had surgery, DON’T FORGET TO GIVE THEM MEDS. I had just worn off the anesthetics, I’m taking night out of the hospital. One of my sisters was keeping track of my meds (should have done that myself) and gave me a TYLENOL. I was supposed to be taking a VALUEM (I think that’s how you spell it, I haven’t taken one since). Either way, took one and an opioid, so I saw god for the next hour, ran in the olympics, and maybe had a soulmate whose back fused with mine due to how high I was.
I wasn’t so much in pain as I was stiff, as if I was encased by concrete, and because my back couldn’t relax due to the weak muscles, I was stuck on my side in the morning while my family slept in the hotel. Other than that, after getting my meds, I could walk fine for 5 minutes (try not to push it).
Don’t be the parent that says ‘Oh you’ve been walking so good, you can make it around Walmart for the next few minutes, sweetie ;)))’ and proceeds to walk for the next 2 hours around store with your teen. My oldest sister did that (I was walking for thirty minutes at a time by then) and so I laid down on the store shelf 🙃.
You’ll probably be emotionally drained, so be prepared to cry at least a little. It’s a major surgery and you’re high off drugs that you’ve probably never used, especially if you’re younger, and/or scared of surgeries.
Next tip: drink water!!!! I nearly dehydrated because I was so stuffed, being unable to poop and so I wasn’t eating or drinking properly for three days.
If you have a long car ride, bring pillows. Your stiff as a rock for the next couple weeks/months. Pillows are your friends.
Take your time. Be slow, don’t tire yourself out.
I like to run, and I’m a runner, but do as the doctor’s say. I was quite sad because I wasn’t able to run, and gained a few pounds due to it. Try to watch what you eat, and go and do some walks and light exercises.
That being said, I’m doing well. No complications in 2 years post off and going strong. That being said, I was a simple case, and most people have more problems besides scoliosis, but if you were relatively healthy pre-op and can be positive throughout your recovery (can be difficult), you have a much higher chance of doing well post-op.
Overall? 9/10, would do again, except I’d get my surgery recorded because that’d be sooo cool to look at (not an aspiring med student, just a person who generally think modern med is dope :)).
Is there any danger of the hardware moving or coming out of place when there’s lots of movement ??
Really good advice thank doctor
Me mines at 50 degrees
I had an 82° curve in my lower back with a smaller counter curve up top and got rods in the upper portion of my spine. Post surgery when the drs turned me face up and pulled the paper out from under me the local anesthetic iv got pulled out and no one noticed for hours. So when i woke up I didn't have as much pain medication in my system as i should have. I was given the button that controls the local anesthetic and told that if i needed to I could press it and every 2 hours it would give me more. So i ended up soaking the bedding in iv pain meds without getting any. I had a second iv in my arm with presumably a general anestetic but boy that night was awful. However the next morning I was able to walk after my Mom helped me out of bed and went to the bathroom by myself. And i was able to wean off the take home pain meds before my perscriptions ran out, i think because in comparison to those early hours every day life didn't hurt that bad. Also it was mostly muscle pain around my spine so things like icy hot or lidocaine cream over the counter worked faster than pain pills. I was 13 when i had the surgery. It's scary but doable and worth saving as much lung capacity as possible.
i have been suffering from scoliosis for almost twenty years without any form of treatment. thank you Dr for your insughts
Why you didn't do the surgery
I had over 90 degree curve and had most of my spine fused. I always wonder how much flexibility I could possibly regain.
ua-cam.com/video/vr9tl4TqZzU/v-deo.html
Hey, hope all is well, just curious how much flexibility did you regain? Do you currently play sports? My son has about 90 degrees and plays basketball at a high level and requires surgery. Just trying to get as much information from someone in a similar situation not from people just assuming. Thanks!
I retained a good bit of flexibility, but not to the Point of equaling what I’d had beforehand. It’s limited, granted, but it’s not as limited as I’d thought I thought I’d be. My back can actually still bend a little bit side to side and backwards, not so much forward for me so I have to bend extra at my hips for forward bending, makes toe touches take more leg and hip stretching straining, all of which surprised me at first. I retained so much flexibility from doing yoga routinely each week for months before the surgery was ever suggested and because I was younger obviously. I didn’t play sports so I don’t know how exactly it’s going to affect your son’s capabilities, but from what I’ve seen/read of other scoliosis surgery patients who did play some kind of sport, they were able to get back at it again after a while of recovery/adjusting to the new rods and limits. I have played some basketball in school at recess a few months after surgery and I found I could play it just fine and soccer and baseball as well. Swimming is a good physical activity to limber up the back. At the first couple months afterwards, you’re going to want to take it easy and not push yourself too much or else risk some kind of consequence. I recovered extraordinarily fast, practically miracle fast: released after four days instead of week, so my recovery adjustment in the months afterwards was probably faster than most normal ones well. Everyone’s body reacts and recovers from things differently at different paces. Mobility during the first two weeks or so will be limited and slow. I still remember how I felt being so unbearably slow and stiff and weak and needing support at first and getting tired quickly and needing to sit down during the first weeks. I felt like an old granny. Because of my fast recovery and sheer stubborn determination to not let my new condition hold me back and wanted to put mind over matter, I pushed myself a little too much a week or two after surgery and pulled a shoulder muscle/nerve so bad it burned down my arm in a nerve pain every time I used that hand to grab or do anything. It was like this for a month or two. So take it from me, don’t push him or don’t let him push himself too much trying to prove he’s still capable of things. I know that feeling well, but it’s not worth the possible damage by pushing to do too much too soon. He’ll probably be able to do most everything he did before, certain things requiring upper body flexibility and strength being the exceptions of maybe maybe not or taking longer time, but in time, at his own pace, listening to his body to judge what he’s able to do and when it feels like he’s recovered enough to do it again. The back will be a bit weak for a time afterwards, and for a long time afterwards I found myself being careful in the things that I did that required heavy use of the upper back or potentially could end up posing some kind of back hazard, but over time, I realized that my back, while a bit weaker and more sensitive than normal backs, was not fragile weak. It could handle lifting heavy things, it could handle roughhousing, it could handle falling directly onto my back (I found this out when I slipped while running on the wet driveway and falling onto my back on the cement and realized I only felt regular fall pain and not any injury pain. This was a good half year or so after the surgery.). I learned to not be so overly cautious but I also learned to still be careful and know my limits. Granted, my back is still prone to being injured more than the rest of my body or a normal person’s back, but it’s not fragile like a twig. I actually was able to learn safety rolls (something my dad said I wouldn’t be able to learn because of my stiff back and thus didn’t try to teach me but I did learn it on my own by watching UA-cam tutorials from martial arts people and practicing a lot on my own as countermeasures for if I did fall because accidents are going to happen sooner or later and I wanted to be prepared to handle them safely when they did. So with safety rolls, I could roll safely instead of just falling and hurting myself. Hint: roll diagonally from shoulder to opposite hip, not along the spine.). Also learning to land light and loose on your feet on your toes and then heels, then crouching or rolling if need be helps to reduce risk of injury by keeping the shock force from traveling up your spine and jarring your back when jumping high/landing from jumping off higher objects so maybe that’ll come in handy with the basketball. Running from toe or mid foot to heel instead of heel to toe like normal also helps with lessening the jarring of impact force and keeping it from jarring up to the spine. Oh, I had some parts of my back lose the ability to feel tactile sensations as a side affect of the surgery but over these last few years, I’ve actually noticed some tactile feeling coming back in the dead areas, which means that the nerves there are recovering some, so if this does happen to your son, (it might it, might not) there’s the possibility that he’d regain the feeling in the nerve dead areas over time. The surgery will leave a scar, and as the years go on, the scar will probably shrink and become less noticeable over the years, or at least I assume so because mine has. Reply any more questions if you have them.
@@EverythingAndAnythingGoes24 thanks for the quick response and sharing your experience! How old were you when you had the surgery? How much was your degree reduced? I'm going to share this with my son and his mother. Maybe they have other questions. My son is 12 turning 13 in December so he is extremely nervous as am I. Again appreciate you for sharing your experience.
I was 13 as well when I had my surgery. For comparison of how long I’ve lived with rods in my back, I’m 21 now. I don’t remember exactly the percentage of straightness my back recovered, I think it was down to 30 or 20% or less I think. It is more or less straight now. Again, my recovery was basically a miracle to the professional doctors. They hadn’t anticipated my back to be so flexible, for me to handle and recover from it as fast in four days instead of the usual week. My recovery wasn’t the normal speed and amount of recovery. Mine was faster and recovered better than the average scoliosis surgery patient. I was doing everything they had planned a day or two ahead of the usual schedule because I was recovering so well. I’ve had a lot of surgeries before as a baby so my body is very resilient and able to recover from such experiences a bit faster and better than the regular person’s body. Don’t expect the percentage of straightness to be down to 20%or below like mine but keep hope that his back will be straightened more than it was before the surgery. Don’t expect your son to recover and be released in less than a week, the usual recovery time before being released is a week at minimum, but at the same time, keep hope and positivity that he will recover well at his own pace. Basically, don’t expect his recovery to be such an extreme miracle like mine was, but keep faith and positivity that his recovery will still be better than what it was before the surgery as he recovers at his own pace. It all depends on the body flexibility, how healthy it is, how well it can handle physical stress like a massive invasive surgery on the spine, keeping a positive attitude and outlook as a person’s mood affects their immune system and body effectiveness and response to things (a good attitude =better stronger immune system and health, a bad negative mood =weaker immune response and health). The more limber and flexible the back is before surgery, the more straightness that can possibly be recovered. I’m also sure that the healthier the person is beforehand the better their body handles the surgery and recovers. I think the more active one is before the surgery the better they recover as well. I wish your son luck on his surgery! I’m sure he’ll recover from it just fine at his own pace. If you don’t mind, keep me posted on how the surgery and the recovery goes when it happens. If any of you have any questions, feel free to reply them to me on this.
I had my first surgery at 16 in 1973. Harrington rod T-2 to T-12. Wore a cast in those days for a year. I lived life doing everything such as climbing, cycling, motor sports, equestrian, skiing, softball, you name it. However, lower spine began rotating in my 50’s and caused pain and curvature causing mental anguish as love clothes. Trying to hide did not work well. I found a doctor to preform a second surgery that hooked into old rod and down through sacrum. This was at age 60 at Barnes Jewish in St. Louis, Mo. I am now 67, happy with results. Did I need to change activities, yes I did. However, at my age it is easier to give up my crazy need for pushing limits. The post operative issues are not hard to get through. I did my convalescent care with friends on a beach in FL as winter in WA would not allow me to do a mile walk necessary to recovery daily. I am still happy that I had this second surgery.
Did they actually hook into your Harrington rod, or put the new types of rods on either side of your spine? I had a Harrington rod placed in 1978.
I'm a Nigerian. I will love to go for my scoliosis surgery but no money. But please if you help me. I will be glad.😢😢😢😢
I'm 43 years old, I be in a lot of pain. I 68 degrees and no doctor in Birmingham would touch me.
Im 57. Last time i checked my degree is 67 ive finally found the chief surgeon at a major university hospital hopefully have it done soon.
I’m 30 and had a 67 thoracic degree. I had it corrected to 19 degrees about a month ago
@@christian_7500 how u dealing with it now ?
@@christian_7500 I'm 25. I want surgery too. How are you now?
im around 65 i believe and i’m only 16 😩
If after surgery 10 degree curve remains is that visible from outside best way to reduce scar
I’m scared , I have to wear a brace but I don’t wear it, it’s so uncomfortable and I’m scared to get surgery because I don’t wanna die, I’m scared I’ll lose my ability to walk as well, I keep thinking about the bad stuff :((
Hello, please consult with your primary physician if you are feeling nervous and scared. His or her team should be able to help you with your fears and worries. Know that you are not alone. We wish you the best!
@@SettingScoliosisStraight
Hi, I am 19 year old male 5 feet 5 inches and have a 54° Curve. How much inches approximately may I gain, if the curve was to be corrected.
@@kamalibrathwaite i had a 55 degree curve and was 2 inches taller after surgery
@@kimstacks9934 Great ! Thanks
@@kimstacks9934 How tall are you now?
Can I do the surgery at 25 years old?
Jesus loves you all so vey much! God bless!!
Ty same to you
I went to the doctor yesterday for just a checkup and came back home with a scheduled date for surgery... I have to go in for surgery on March 30... The doctor told me if I do not get it fixed now later down the road I would have to have heart and lung surgery along with my back
i hope everything goes well! :D ❤❤ goodluck on the table buddy
oh my . i hope the best for you
@ambriaa's island Yes i did and it went very well! In a few days it will be one month since my surgery and I am basically back to normal... but ofcourse everyone heals differently!
@Aqualis I know this may sound cheesy but to be honest I am getting better every day!!!
@@rebeccaharrison8773 did u grow much after the operation?
My daughter has been operated for scoliosis,she is 6weeks now,is it normal for her one leg to be shorter than the other one?
I have scoliosis and had surgery. My left leg is shorter than the right which makes it difficult to find outfits since my hips are not balanced.
Hi I'm Evelyn. My daughter just had spinal fusion surgery 9 days ago.she is at home now recovering she's doing well but she's tilted on the left side and can't stand up straight,her shoulders up and her knees are bent a little when she walk...my questions are this normal? Did your daughter has the same experience as my daughter? Thanks a lot!
I expect it was before, it’s not her leg, her hip is not level.
hey..I am oshadi from Sri Lanka.I am 15 now.I also a scoliosis patient .I was at 38°. I put a guard, but sadly now I am at 42°. Can you tell me if the operation is risky or not?
My son is 13 he us having 43 degree scoliosis , ivan from Agra India. Here doctors suggested surgery . Whatcti do now . He is o negative group
Is there anyine who is fused from t2 to l4.. plz share ur experience
hola me da mucho gusto como su tecnologia es avasado tengo escoliosis s tengo 36 años sufro mucho todos los dias con el dolor ayudeme en pasis Bolivia no se animan ha realizar esas operaciones nos dan esperanza con el video sigan adelante cuanto cuesta la operacion de escoliciosis gracias benciones
La operación si no tienes un seguro, es bastante costosa, si no has encontrado un especialista en Bolivia, en Argentina he escuchado que hay buenos :) Coméntale que te gustaría conservar lo más posible de tu movilidad, para que la fusión no sea tan extensa y puedas recuperarte más rápido :)
For your help ua-cam.com/video/3MNgQZ9oAGw/v-deo.html
🙋🏻♀️
I have scoliosis and had surgery in 1995, I had the halo thing and rods in my back.
How old are u now...have u get any pblm after surgery
I am 37 years old now and I can't bend but I don't really think I had any problems after the surgery.
@Ayesha khan Ayesha khan Surgery ke baad kitna bend kr skte h body ko aur pain bhi kafi hota hoga na
So I have scoliosis, at age 13. And I am going into surgery very soon. I'm told I'm never going to be able to walk again, and it scares me; is that true?
it is NOT true, if that was true you wouldnt be getting operated in the first place lol
@@cangreburger4281 ohh ok
@@Pleasedontsayyouloveme did u get ur surgery
@@nf5322 nope, we have so many orthodontist, physical, and dentist appointments -- my parents have been neglecting the fact that I NEED the surgery but it's not their fault. It's incredibly expensive and there's already so many important appointments scheduled
Dr i need appointments
is painful during surgery
you won’t feel anything during the surgery. obviously because you’ll be asleep. but you will experience pain afterwards but nothing super crazy. your definitely going to be able to get through it. it just lasts a while.