Spinal surgery recovery period?

[t walgamuth]

So I had surgery to remove a disc protuberance about 3 weeks ago. My legs are still very weak, my balance is good now and I feel pretty good. Almost no pain and am managing with extra strength Tylenol.

I am meeting back with the surgeon next week.

I am pondering if I can get back to autocrossing for a few events yet this year. I believe I could get in and out of the car now but don't know what the prognosis is for doing any damage to my repaired areas.

Comments?

[reidhazelton]

So I had surgery to remove a disc protuberance about 3 weeks ago. My legs are still very weak, my balance is good now and I feel pretty good. Almost no pain and am managing with extra strength Tylenol.

I am meeting back with the surgeon next week.

I am pondering if I can get back to autocrossing for a few events yet this year. I believe I could get in and out of the car now but don't know what the prognosis is for doing any damage to my repaired areas.

Comments?

I'm gonna go with ask your doctor that. Even if there are any spine/ortho surgeons on this forum they have not evaluated you so it won't mean anything anyway. Ask your doctor, and go with what he or she says. Anything else is bad medicine.

[TimH]

Expanding on Reid's comment, none of us have the least idea just what operation you had, how things looked at the end of it, or even precisely what the problem was in the first place. If you trusted him to operate, you should trust his recovery advice.

[t walgamuth]

Of course.

[Hardingfv32]

We are involved in motor racing. Some consider it risky. You have to do the risk/benefit analysis for yourself. The doctors are going to be conservative. I know after my broken neck from a race accident, I was back snowboarding earlier than the doctor wanted. I was not going to wait another year for the ski season.

Brian

[tlracer]

Expanding on Reid's comment, none of us have the least idea just what operation you had, how things looked at the end of it, or even precisely what the problem was in the first place. If you trusted him to operate, you should trust his recovery advice.

I had surgery 30 or so years ago for disc damage. My surgeon was excellent both before and after the operation. He set up a program of physiotherapy for me and I trusted entirely in this, even though it was difficult at times.

I made a complete recovery and was racing the following year with no issues.

So yes, trust your surgeon and follow the advice rigorously - best of luck and take care!

[t walgamuth]

Of course I am talking about autocross. No risk of hitting anything bigger than a cone. Not much more stress than driving a normal car. ...and the Doc does not know what the distinction between autocross and track racing is.

[phantomjock]

Take him a video on your phone?
Encourage him to go to a meet - buy his lunch.
Have him do a drive around.
We all know its more fun than golf!

Cheers - Jim

[t walgamuth]

Take him a video on your phone?
Encourage him to go to a meet - buy his lunch.
Have him do a drive around.
We all know its more fun than golf!

Cheers - Jim

Great idea Jim! Too bad he is located in central Ohio and I in western Indiana.

[t walgamuth]

Can someone remind me how to thin out my inbox please?

[E1pix]

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Best of Luck in your recovery.

[EYERACE]

About 11 years ago in Florida following spinal fusion of several burst vertebrae - no thanks to a guard rail at Sebring that had no tire barrier in front of it - by a very competent neurosurgeon - thank you Dr. Glen Manzano - I knew his opinion was I don't get back in a racecar - but I suspected the Doc knew little about racecars.............so..........I first went to consult with the Docs from the OrthoIndy Practice up there in Indianapolis who travel with the Indy Car series when they were at the St. Pete Gran Prix. I even took my post surgical X-rays to show 'em all the titanium implanted in the crushed bone. The surprise answer was "We've got guys out on track right now with more hardware in them from multiple applications than you've got." .....meaning the Driver had shattered vertebrae in a wreck, been repaired, raced again, crashed and blew up their spine again, repaired and was back out again. So I had hope. I took the suggestion that I get a follow-up CT scan, forward it and then travel up to Indy to see Dr. Terry Trammell (the Doc who saved Zanardi when he lost his legs). Sadly Dr. Trammell no longer is in Practice. I've been back in the Formula Continental for the last many years after having BaldSpot MotorSports build me a special seat. I earned my first overall pole at Daytona this past weekend......most of the really good guys were at RunOffs.

So maybe call OrthoIndy, ask specifically who there on staff travels with the Indy series and go see them and bring a copy of your Doc's notes. As a Doc myself and understanding what I went through my best guess is you wait at least three months, in the mean time seriously attack your rehab and then some.

[Pi_guy]

I'm gonna go with ask your doctor that. Even if there are any spine/ortho surgeons on this forum they have not evaluated you so it won't mean anything anyway. Ask your doctor, and go with what he or she says. Anything else is bad medicine.

From some one who has titanium hardware all depends on the shape you are in.
Went to best knee surgeon in city put stainless steel plate in me and then blamed me for 6 months that I was infecting myself, turns out I am allergic to nickle. So one of the things I learned is you have to be the doctor and know your body. How much time does the doctor spend on your case?

[mark elder]

Its one thing to be able to get into your car and drive it normally (even hitting the odd cone), but... the real issue is getting out; not at the end of a great lap but quickly out of the car if it is on fire or if the car is on its side or upside down etc etc. You need to be able to get out quickly and without damaging yourself more.

HANS only helps with frontal impact for your head and neck. I am guessing your disc issue is lower back. Consider a frontal impact; we all tend to push hard through our legs to brace ourselves. This could be pretty hard on your lower back. It could put you in a wheelchair for life.

So the issue is damage during accidents or acts of God.

You need 2 opinions; your surgeon and a surgeon who deals with actually single seater racing.

But.... beware of the opinion that puts professional drivers back in the car early. They can take the added risk of extra damage because they really need to get back in the car. Not so true for amateur racers.

[t walgamuth]

Thanks for all the thoughtful comments. I would reiterate I only autocross so the likelihood of an impact is extremely small.
I am able to walk without pain and without a cane this morning. I took one four hour Ibuprofen about an hour ago. I have been off the narcotic for about a week now.

My back work did not require any hardware....yes it is lower back.

[EYERACE]

The internal and severed and/or stretched portions of your lower back muscles/ligaments/tendons must be given a chance to 'reboot' You will also be regrowing a capillary bed over the disc area impacted......if you early on abuse them they will bleed - you'll probably never know it though

As to nickel......20%.......TWENTY !! percent of the population is allergic to nickel........and your Doc didn't determine or ask before the fact about you and possibly being allergic to nickel. So if the Doc doesn't figure that out before the fact then 1 out of 5 of his Patients will have trouble........geeez

I agree Auto-X and hitting other than a cone does seem a lot safer than wheel to wheel racing.....but the SCCA archives do house incidents of Auto-X and death.

As to shape......when I first talked to the OrthoIndy Doc at the St. Pete Gran Prix....which was six months after the wreck and surgery, after he and I talked and looked at my pics, he called Dr. Trammell....while they were on the phone I decided to try push-ups for the first time post-surgical......and I felt a couple dozen microscopic firecrackers going off deep in my spine.....so I stopped and knew I wasn't ready to race. It was well over a year before I got back in the car. These days I'll do maybe a hundred of 'em in a day in sets of 15 to 20.....same with sit-ups on a different day. Not bad for a 68 year old mid-packer.

Herschel Walker of Georgia running back fame when young did a thousand sit ups and a thousand push ups every day. Whew!

[Ralph Z.]

Ask your doc.

[billtebbutt]

Given that my back issues began over 40 years ago, and the fact that I have seen and sought help from a vast number of specialists, therapists, doctors, fortune tellers etc over the last 4 decades, I have come to 2 conclusions:

1. Backs remain poorly understood (not because the medical profession isn't smart, but because backs are complicated). A similar condition shared by two people can result in very different outcomes in terms of pain, debilitation, and I suspect further injury given similar activities

2. You need to be your own advocate when it comes to your health, back or otherwise. It is all too easy for a doctor to rely on her body of knowledge and assume she understands the intricacies of your case. If you think that your doctor isn't "digging in", get another opinion or two. Don't be afraid to fire a doctor if you don't think he/she is unqualified or too casual about your condition.

Case in point: years back, when I was finished chemo (I have a wonderful oncologist!) and was on to radiation, I was introduced to my radiologist. Super senior guy in the department, around a long time. He started talking about how he's going to target the two tumors in my chest. I politely asked him how many tumors he thought I had (he had reviewed the file and developed the treatment protocol already), and he looked at me and said "You have two tumors". And I said "You're fired".

I had three similarly sized tumors in my chest, all a long way from each other. The point being, despite his experience, he did a half-a$$ed review of my file and developed a treatment protocol that, left unchecked, would have left a growing tumor in me. Nice.

You are your own champion when it comes to your healthcare. Advocate for yourself, and good luck!

cheers,
BT

[E1pix]

I cannot “back” this up enough!

I had incessant back issues in my 20s and 30s. I was mostly a sign painter and pinstriper, *extremely hard work* on the back, and yet backpacked and climbed hundreds of miles per year — against advice of five DOs and others, once carrying 107 lbs. up Mount Whitney with a three-week load.

I tried chiropractics a few times and made real progress, but the last straw needed was a Kinesiologist — two visits — and no back problems beyond a tweak from overuse about every year. It now seems most tweaks are while prepping for big hikes, and every time we hike anyway and a day or two later say “That’s right, my back was tweaked.” Each and every time, exercise straightened out the issue, but that said, I do know what stretches to do until I feel/hear the classic “pop.”

If I’d listened to the DOs, who more often than not insisted I needed surgery, I doubt I’d be backpacking twenty-mile days like we now do at 61. And that’s with my wife who survived a stroke from malpractice and was told to get used to life in a wheelchair.

Make no mistake, there’s still great people in medicine, but lest we forget about profit.

[t walgamuth]

Thanks for all your thoughts guys!

[t walgamuth]

I got my three week checkup from the surgery yesterday. He said it was all healing as it should. He wrote a prescription for the PT and said If it kept healing as it is I could climb into the race car in six weeks. He said at that time I would be no more at risk than the guys who have not had surgery.

The Mrs. is not happy. She thinks I hurt my back with the race car.

The doc says the repaired disc should last longer now than my unrepaired original discs.

[Ralph Z.]

I would guess that a properly fitted bead seat would be in order. That might help your back (and the Mrs. ).

[mmi16]

From the experience of racing for 33 years interspersed and preceded by 8 years of dedicated autocrossing. Autocross lots are generally rougher with more impacts to the back than any race track except Sebring.

[TimH]

I would guess that a properly fitted bead seat would be in order. That might help your back (and the Mrs. ).

The SFI foam is a tad softer and also flexible, so more comfortable and easier to take in and out of the car. Highly recommended.

[t walgamuth]

From the experience of racing for 33 years interspersed and preceded by 8 years of dedicated autocrossing. Autocross lots are generally rougher with more impacts to the back than any race track except Sebring.

I have only competed at one place that was really rough. Rantoul. I made two runs then loaded up and went home. There are places at Grissom that are rough but the local guys know how to lay out to miss them. I am still considering my options. I would rather not run a car with fenders and front engine. One thing is that the VD currently is set up perfectly for me.

[t walgamuth]

First PT session yesterday. I now can do pretty much everything I need to pain free. Most important...walking. I am allowed to lift 10 pounds now.

Still improving....all numbness gone in both legs now. I can walk normally. Legs are still weak but Have walked over a mile a few times now.

[racerxlilbro]

I feel your pain. Literally.

I had robotic microdiscectomy almost exactly one year ago. My post-op instructions were: "No running or jumping for 90-days." It took a full 90-days for the nerve pain to subside. And, now I'm dealing with scar tissue from the surgery creating nerve pain in my right foot. However, compared to where I was, it's a totally different ballgame. I have been back in the car since last March with no issues.

I am learning that movement is your friend. Being active helps. And, sitting in my DB1 is one of the most comfortable places for me.

[tlracer]

racerxlilbro - movement and regular physiotherapy definitely help massively!

I had disc surgery in 1990, before keyhole techniques were common, so had the spinal muscles retracted to access the trauma site (L5/S1 disc).

That meant the potential for scar tissue build-up, but twice-daily exercises meant I kept breaking that down, keeping flexibility and mobility.

I was back in a racecar 6 months later and skiing 12 months after the op!!

[t walgamuth]

I have worked very hard to get my fitness back. The nerves and such seem very good....almost no pain ever but my legs are still a little reluctant to do as ordered promptly. I decided not to run this year. I had planned to run on Sunday just past but decided day before not to.

[billtebbutt]

...So. Next season you explode out of the box like freakin' Superman and kick a$$!!!!!!!!!!

bt

[t walgamuth]

...So. Next season you explode out of the box like freakin' Superman and kick a$$!!!!!!!!!!

bt

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!! Back to normal!

[t walgamuth]

So I went to an autocross at crown point at the water park about a month ago. l got in one run and they had some massive problem with their timing equipment. Anyhow I got very tired and loaded up and came home after one pitiful run.

I just prepared the car and am ready to head south to Walesboro to run in the morning.

I hope someone there can help me get hooked up on the timing in my phone. Although three times I ran last year with that setup and had been assured it was set up correctly I had no reported times.

No back issues to report.

[tlracer]

That is excellent news (other than the timing issues)!

Doing anything 'different' after a layoff is always going to be tiring, even without previous surgery, as you're using muscle sets in ways you won't have done for some time.

I'm absolutely sure it helps both physically and mentally, getting back to doing things you enjoy. Muscles soon recover what they need to do and the relaxation of the familiar, the 'happy place' is immeasurable!!

[Jim Garry]

Good news! Do you still have your Van Dieman?

[t walgamuth]

Yes I do. Need one?

It is looking particularly lovely today after a wash and wax.

[Jim Garry]

Yes I do. Need one?

You're offer comes a bit late. Just got the car I've been assembling for over 2 years to my first couple of events.

[chrisw52]

Yes I do. Need one?

It is looking particularly lovely today after a wash and wax.

sigh... they do make nice garage decorations

[t walgamuth]

I ran yesterday. It was about 90 degrees out there. I struggle with heat. I did pour water on my head between runs and around my neck etc. The car bodywork was so hot I could not touch it without gloves.

The car ran perfectly until the fifth run when it came up with a dead battery. I had left the ignition on between runs so It is probably driver error.

I was pretty rusty.

[E1pix]

Glad you got out, Tom.

[t walgamuth]

Thank you!