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Hello
I am 64 years old and just this past Oct I was told I have Lumbar Scoliosis. Needless to say I was really surprised and shocked as I thought I was suffering from a Pinched Sciatic Nerve due to Arthritic condictions. I never knew I had this problems and now I am at a loss. I've been to see the surgeon to review the MRI (which wasn't a complete set) and took many Xrays. He informed me that he wouldn't be able to do anything without the complete set and in the mean time I am going to have a spinal injection this coming week.
At my age I am really concerned about having surgery and if a brace and pain medications wouldn't be a better step. I saw the Xrays and I was shocked to see them.
My questions are as follows:
Has anyone at my age had the surgery and the results? Does the brace help all that well? Am I kidding myself not wanting the surgery?
Naturally I am concerned for my health, but at my age is it worth it.
Any help would be so appreciated, Thank you for your help!
I am 64 years old and just this past Oct I was told I have Lumbar Scoliosis. Needless to say I was really surprised and shocked as I thought I was suffering from a Pinched Sciatic Nerve due to Arthritic condictions. I never knew I had this problems and now I am at a loss. I've been to see the surgeon to review the MRI (which wasn't a complete set) and took many Xrays. He informed me that he wouldn't be able to do anything without the complete set and in the mean time I am going to have a spinal injection this coming week.
At my age I am really concerned about having surgery and if a brace and pain medications wouldn't be a better step. I saw the Xrays and I was shocked to see them.
My questions are as follows:
Has anyone at my age had the surgery and the results? Does the brace help all that well? Am I kidding myself not wanting the surgery?
Naturally I am concerned for my health, but at my age is it worth it.
Any help would be so appreciated, Thank you for your help!
Anyway, you can see from my signature that I had surgery at age 67. I can completely empathize with you as I also did not have scoliosis in my younger years. I tried many things including PT, water therapy, steroid shots and wasted over $5,000.00 on non-surgical spinal decompression with a Chiropractor, to no avail. I doubt a brace would help very much since our spines are not as flexible as a younger person's. Most MD's in my area won't write prescriptions for pain except on a temporary basis. I am very happy I chose to have the surgery once I found a qualified surgeon who would operate on me. I started back roller-skating three months ago and I am able to walk up to two miles and to do everything I need to do and I expect to live at least another 20 years, maybe 30. I still have some residual leg pain, but my Doctor tells me it is caused by the nerves trying to regenerate and can take up to two years to settle down. For this pain, gabapentin works quite well. If you have other questions, feel free to ask me here or send me a Private Message.
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