There is a good chance that you have some issues with sca tissue building up. Unfortunately it will only get worse and if they do not do some diagnostics to see if there is something wrong at the fusion sites there may be problems there too.

If it is scar tissue, you can have hypertonic saline/steroid injections into the scar tissue to allow the tissue to be softened but it will not fix the problem.


Things are never the same after surgery and it is a real crap shoot when deciding to have the surgery. It is simply the luck of the draw and like you, I did not get better with the charite artificial disc. Things are not worse but they are not better either.

Good luck,
brian

Thanks for the info by what kind of tests need to be done to find out if there is scar tissue? I am also starting to over compensate at the disc level above my surgery and I am starting to have some issues with that. Do you have any other ideas for me? I am currently in pool therapy and also received a tens unit about 2 days ago. So far I like the unit but I am afraid it won't work for long since I have to have it up pretty high in order for it to give any relief and even then it only takes the edge off. The doctor keeps telling to be patient but i'm afraid if i'm too patient that it won't get any better.

Patience is a good thing when you are not dealing with scar tissue. The longer you wait for treatment involving scar tissue, the worse it will be by the time they start to treat.

You really need to talk with the doc about the hypotonic saline injections, they are really the only helpful treatment for scar tissue. Again, it does not heal it, it just softens the tissue so there is less pressure on the nerves. Operating to remove scar tissue is a horrible plan because you will not only have the original scaring but you will then have the new scar tissue to deal with.

As far as falling, it could be a symptom called drop foot, this is dangerous because you cannot control that. The only medication I am aware of for drop foot is called baclofen. It is a muscle relaxer used to treat mutiple sclerosis and is very helpful for treating spasms of all kinds.

Good luck,
brian

I had dynesis done on 2/21/06 l4-l5. (27 years old) I was close to getting a fusion about 5 years back and then again about two years back, but opted out.

It's been about 3 months and I am about to where I was before the surgery, and my doc says he thinks I will continue to progress for the next couple months. Just curious about the success rates, which in general often tend to be exaggerated by medical studies and the medical community.

My pain is predominantly back due to ddd, i've had since 16. If I miss a couple of days of physical therapy I felt pain in my thighs behind my legs as well.

After the surgery, I was out of the hospital within 24 hours, and back to work full time in about 3 1/2 weeks.

For those of you who don't know, dynamic stabilization can be used in lieu of fusion and adr, and is sometimes recommended for younger patients since it is reversible and doesn't alter spinal anatomy (wallis is also in trial right now and does not use pedicle screws) some doctors think dynamic stabilization could be the future of back surgery. However, dynesis is still new and "experimental", which is why it is nice to hear tangible stories from real people, positive and negative.

I'll post another update in a couple months. Thanks.