Surgery or no, Hard decision when it comes to convenience and quality of life

[Jinseeker]

I've been thinking about surgery lately, and i am consistently pondering whether i should have it or not. As the days go by, i have a lot harder time weighing all the risks vs. benefits. One thing that bothers me most is that my curve is right at the borderline (45 degrees/although non-progressive documentation), and my age and where i am right now in life. I am still young at 23, but i question surgical advances down the road and if it is worth it to do it later on in life, but the downside will be that i'll be older. But the main reason why i am considering it is because of back pain and stiffness that never seems to go away permanently. Although, physical therapy and exercises do alleviate this pain, i find i have to keep doing these activities all the time or else the pain comes back. I did not have this pain back when i was 19. The pain is bearable and does go away, but only after I do the exercises which i feel is eating quite a lot of my spare leisure time. But then again, i don't know what to expect after surgery, and if the pain would more or less go away permanently and that i wouldn't have to do continuous exercises anymore. I am also at the point where i have to strap a back support sports belt around my torso to alleviate stiffness and pain from sitting too long at the work computer. Lastly, I guess you can also say that cosmetics do play a part in my decision, as i do have a pretty significant rib hump that is quite hard to deal with.

Perhaps i may just be complaining needlessly too much about my quality of life right now, but what intrigues me the most is how it would be that much better if i just gone through surgery.

Anyone post-surgery want to give me any insight to my decision?

[LindaRacine]

Hi Jin...

Even if you have surgery, you may find that you need to do some exercises for the rest of your life. If you can limit your back pain with a small number of PT exercises that you do every day, I'd try that for as long as possible if I were you.

Regards,
Linda

[Karen Ocker]

Jin:
I notice you have triple curves like me. You can monitor them a little longer to see how you are doing. However, with triple curves, the trunk and internal organs(lungs) get affected sooner than with double curves. Also the discs will wear sooner because they are not bearing the load evenly.

If , sometime in the future, surgery is recommended, I suggest getting in tip top shape so that you go into it in great condition.

[Loren]

I'm not post-op, but I do seem to have some things in common with you. I'm 19 years old and about a year ago I was diagnosed w/ scoli, and found out I had a 45 degree curve. The surgeon told me it too it was at the boarderline. I took a few months to figure out whether I wanted surgery or not, and I decided that I did. The main reason was to relieve muscle pain, and also for cosmetic reasons (I have a huge rib hump). Plus, like you said, you bounce back quicker when you're young, and the pain will probably only progress once you're older. My surgery is scheduled for June 5th, and I'm still happy with my decision because last weeks x-ray showed that I progressed to 54 degrees (9 degreees in 1 year). The best thing to do is to wait until you're absolutly sure you want it. You're only 23, a few years won't make much of a difference when it comes to curve correction. So you really don't have much to lose by waiting, except for having to deal w/ your back pain. :)

[Jinseeker]

The thing is the pain keeps persisting to occur even after exercise. Just last year, the pain would go away after one chiropractic adjustment per month, then would begin to return in the next month. But slowly as the months go by and as I age, the chiro adjustments just weren't doing their job as effectively anyore. The pain would disspear right after the adjustment, and would return the very next day. So soon after, i tried yoga for once a week. It did its wonders as my spine became more flexible, i reduced my pain as well. But soon the yoga exercises were being just as temporary pain relief as the chiro adjustments, it only goes away on the day i did the exercise. So today, i find that i have to keep exercising about 3-4 times a week doing yoga, physical therapy and working out at the gym to minimize and control my pain. With this amount of exercise, i can live comfortably and manage my pain, but i just wonder how it would continue to be in the future, i fear that the pain will continue to keep persisting to occur no matter how much more i exercise. I'd also like to mention that there are times where even right after exercising i feel back pain when i sit too long at the computer, which i now have to wear a backsupport fitness strap around my chest to counter this stress.

I'd like to know if any of you post-surgical folks noticed that you had to do just as much exercise to alleviate and control the pain, if any, from the surgery well after you had it done(ex. like 2 yrs. ago).

[joeb-z]

Jin,

This will not seem like much help but here's my take. Surgery and hardware is advancing, but not by much at this time. Pain alone (setting aside nerve impingment pain) is not a real good reason to have surgery because the surgery and recovery is painful (pain seems very individual in scoli though). No doctor will give you a guarantee concerning your level of post-recovery pain. In your case, pain is driving you to activity. What I would consider is if the pain progresses and starts to limit your activity. You are young and have plenty of time to consider the surgery.

Joe