Harrington Rod Problems after 25 years?

[sweetness514]

Hi Paula,

the only suggestion I would have is to not wait too long to have surgery again. I also had a broken rod, it took a year for the doctors to see it on my Xrays(the crack was barely visible but I knew something was wrong by the clicking, grinding and pain), and then another 6 months to have my surgery scheduled but I decided right away to get the rod replaced, b/c it can cause the spine to loose correction and it loosened a lot of my screws so the surgery was longer. Plus, a breakage could possibly mean(almost sure) a non union and to get it fixed now could prevent further damages.

It's still a big procedure but it's easier than the first operation and now you have this great forum to come to for advice and help and even just support to get through it

[Paula H.]

Hey thanks Sweetness514, I am deff. going to have it looked at on the 28th and check into having the rods replaced. I see that you said it's easier than the first time around..which is awsome to hear ..could you tell me how long the hospital stay usually is and the down time once you get home to finish the recovery. I know there are several people here that has been through this more than once and I would like to see what I might possibly looking at after it's done..granted everyone is different, but I might can get some kind of idea. Thanks!

[sweetness514]

Hi,

I was in the hospital for 5 days. I can say that the first month was really the one where I was tired, weak and when the most healing and recuperating happened. Of course, it depends on how much a person regains feeling and I do get some nerve pains(like they're "waking up so to speak), and it's almost 9 months still, but it's much better. But the first three months is when I was more stiff and when the most things changed far as pain and flexibility. I do notice that I have regained my feeling in my back much quicker than the first time, where it took at least a year(even if a small part between shoulder blades will always be numb).

Good luck and don't mind asking any question, if needed.

[kmuehter]

Much Back Pain Hugo Keim Operated

My cousin and I had the reputed rods and spinal fusion done by the "renouned Dr. Kiem" money making sob. My cousin, after 25 years was reoperated on due to amjor pain. ac tually had the bottom pat of the harrington rod snipped. I haven't spoke with her recently. I am fine if I sit most of the day if i ride a bicycle but if I stand or walk more than 5 minutes I get serious pain. Physical therapy is a joke; another mombo jumbo doctor's office capitalizing on my pain. My cousin "Feels better" I am told. Short of the wheel chair no one's touching my back again. The pain from total spinal fusion I felt back in 1984 scares me to death.

[Karen Ocker]

Trouble after Harrington Rods

The surgery Dr. Kiem did at the time was the state of the art those years. I worked in anesthesia at CPMC at the time. As a matter of fact I envied the correction he got in his patients compared to my own.

It was a big improvement over the old fashioned scoliosis surgery I had in 1956 where only a modest correction was obtained and I needed to stay in bed for a YEAR--not walking --in a series of 3 casts.The Harrington rods--imperfect though they were-- allowed a person to walk sooner with a much better correction. It was the best they had at the time.

The design of the Harrington Rods was faulty in that they did not maintain the normal front to back spinal alignment but made the back too straight. This resulted in abnormal wear and tear on the other joints and vertebrae. Not everyone with shorter fusions had problems;with longer fusions some people needed revisions.
Here is a link which might help you:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Flatback_Revised

[Jacque's Mom]

Dr. Keim

I also had the Harrington Rod surgery by Dr. Keim in 1981. I started with pain again the end of 1997. My thinking is, as Karen mentioned, that was as good as you could get back then and I am forever grateful to Dr. Keim for giving me my life back instead of suffering like I did for so many years. After my cast was removed, I got married, had my beautiful daughter and life was pain free until '97. What were my options......stay in pain and be depressed or take the chance and have the surgery? I opted for the surgery and am grateful to this day even with the pain I am experiencing now. LYNN

[Be Free]

There is hope for a pain-free life

For everyone who has had a spinal fusion and harrington rod, and now experiencing pain....please consider non-traditional approaches to pain management prior to surgery...I have experienced pain on and off over 28 years as a result of the biomechanic alterations in my spine from the surgery in conjunction with living an active life. It is imperative that you maintain the alignment of your joints that are not fused...especially your atlas and your pelvis...these are the main structures that effect your optimal spinal alignment...when they are misaligned, your posture will be altered and subsequently increase stresses to structures immediately above and below your fusion...including your muscles throughout your back. One must also maintain optimal joint spaces above and below your fusion...expecially your lumbar spine, so as not to experience impingement pain and difficulty standing up after prolonged sitting....because when sitting, your residual non-fused lumbar "joints" are in flexion, in addition to shortening your hip flexors...which then cause compression and subsequent pain.... It has taken me years to understand my body and how to create pain-free and flexible days... Dr. Keim could only advise me to "get in shape"..which I already was....and to see a P.T. who only did regional work for symptoms. When my pain was at it's worse and I could not stand straight at all...I realized that all of my unfused body around the fusion was out of alignment, causing these new pains...when I received bodywork to realign these structures, stresses to my spine were gone, pain went away, and standing talll was not a problem....it is an ongoing need to maintain my alignment, because my body absorbs stresses differently then if my spine were not fused...we all learned to perform daily movements and activities with compensatory movement patterns to work around the fusion...which is okay, but needs to be kept in balance also... Yes, if you have a broken or surfaced rod, then surgery would be an option...but if you don't, I urge you to seek out the so many wonderful forms of alternative "bodywork" that truly leave you with a new, pliant, and much more flexible and pain free body....the ones that have been incredibly helpful to me, and that I also provide to others as a therapist, are: myofascial release, Trager, and Quantum Touch, and inversion tables, or hanging from a bar daily. Trager allows you to release tension in all of the muscles around your spine that you can't stretch because of the fusion...it is an incredible experience!!....and Quantum Touch realigns bones with energy...I realign my unfused skeletal structures everyday myself with quantum touch...which is a huge gift!! There are also practitioners that are reversing non-fused advanced stages of scoliosis with QT....a direction I myself are persuing as a practitioner...I look forward to the possibilities that energy could possibly help reverse even the fused formation of my spine to create balance... I speak from experience personally and as a practitioner of bodywork...and I have recently found that for my own healing, it is not healthy to be angry at Dr. Keim...although I 100% do not beleive in this surgery...he only did what he knows...and he doesn't know alternative approaches....that is not what is taught in Medical school...they are called surgeons for a reason...So I focus on further healing and balance of my body to live a pain-free, flexible, and pliant life!!! I in fact am hoping to begin belly dancing this year!! I wish you all a pain-free life ahead...and if you would like any futher information, please ask.... By the way, mu fusion was from T4 - L4 with a harrington rod, and I had a thoracic curve of 78 before surgery, in case anyone wants to know....
Sincerely.....
"Be Free"

[Cakedec]

Dear Be Free,

I am really glad that you have found help and relief for your body and pain post-fusion.

Guess being only 7 weeks post-op, though, I am a little nervous about how much of the body work you are discussing is safe and or appropriate for someone post-fusion and how far along in the healing process you must be to use it safely.

Deb

[Be Free]

Dear Deb,
The quantum touch can be used at any time, in that it is energy...and your body responds and utilizes it wherever and however it is needed...it can even assist in the post-op healing...there is no manipulation involved at all...it is your body doing the healing itself... The other forms of "bodywork", I would probably wait a year...since it takes a good 9 months to fully fuse the spine. I wish I had this information so soon after surgery, because if it is implemented as a regular form of wellness, throughout your life, you will not have the pain that everyone speaks of on this website. YOu will be proactive in the wellness of your body, which is needed whenever there is a fixed structural change...which is soemthing that should be a routine part of post-op education....Don't fear the future, just maintain your wellness, and get to know your body and movement patterns/tendencies really well... FYI, I have had many serious falls, and my rod has never resurfaced, they are pretty stable. I wish you speedy healing!!
"Be Free"

[macky]

Well Be Free, if only I could get some of what you talk about here in Tasmania,
Australia. Sounds great especially the hanging one, as I know from hanging in the pool with my arms over a tyre that stretching does help my pain. Trager sounds utterly fantastic.

Now, why not come over here and set up practice for me.

Loved reading your post. Thankyou for your encouragement to us all.

Bless you
Macky

[Be Free]

Dear Macky,
I'm glad to hear my posting was of help to you...I have great news for you!! Both Trager and Quantum Touch are international organizations. There are practitioners and course instructors in Australia, just go to their main website, and do a search for international practitioners. Trager website is: www.Trager-us.org and the Quantum Touch Website is www.quantumtouch.com I highly recommend you at some point take a basic quantum touch workshop, so you can learn to maintain your own alignment daily. Another great gift Trager offers you, is it explores how you use and move your body, and provides you with tools to maintain the results you achieve on the table with the practitioner. Every time I get off the table from a trager session, I feel like I have a brand new body!!...It's wonderful!! I know there are a lot of postings on chiropractic care, I had been receiveing treatments from a chiropractor who was an atlasorthoganist (they only realign the atlas with a subtle tap...no manipulation...and this automatically realigns all of the other vertebrae that are not fused...I was doing this because my cervical spine is overstressed from the fusion, and it would often go out....however, since I have been using Quantum touch on myself to maintain my own alignment, I have not needed to return to the chiropractor, I can realign my atlas and pelvis myself ...very freeing and empowering!! It is really important to maintain the alignment of the unfused vertebrae, when my atlas would be out of alignment....the stresses would work their way down my body and throw everything off of alignment and increase pain. There are so many subtle approaches out there that really provide you with a "new Body"...it has taken me years to really understand the origin/cause of all of my symptoms.........if I had known earlier, pain would have never been a part of my days...but as I know now, it will no longer be a part of my future...and that is a huge gift!! Any more questions, feel free to ask....!
"Be Free"

[Carey]

Neck Pain

This is the first time I have ever looked online for others who have Harrington Rods. My rods were put in 1974 and I've had very little problem with my scholosis since then until recently (perhaps the last 5+ years). I swim to keep my back strong and generally have been in good health. Two years ago I needed rotator cuff surgery for my right shoulder and now I need it for my left shoulder. Swimming keeps by back strong, but has been harder on my shoulders (I'm assuming) now due to the lack of mobility in my back. I have also had to go to PT for neck pain and recently have been having a significant amount of neck pain. I am told that the points at which the fusion stops and the mobility begins is a real stress point. I'm getting very worried about the long term complications of having these rods and am even more concerned when reading the other people here who have had much more difficulty than I...Any others of you out there with neck pain? I was surprised no one wrote about that. I have experienced the lower lumbar problems described here when I don't swim. Also, I have found crunches or sit ups hard on my neck, but good core strengthening is the plank. It's really a good one everyone should do for a variety of reasons. Takes no time, bending, etc., and really helps. Let me know about your necks...I have two rods one for each curve so the fusion is way up to my neck. Look forward to your responses.
Carey

[Ken]

Hi Carey...

Do you happen to know to what disc's you are fused?

Example: I am fused from T2-L2... and I am starting to have some issues above the rod, the doctor is currently describing it as "degenerative changes & also Kyphosis".... not everyone is fused as high, but even still this does not effect everyone...

What state do you live in?

[JulieBW]

Harrington Rods with femoral nerve problems

My fusion (1966, Godfrey/Weiss in Buffalo) starts at T3, down to L1. I have had occasional stiff necks since I was in my 20's. They haven't gotten worse over the years, but my lumbar vertebrae became arthritic at age 40. Now I'm 53. My problem is with an irritated femoral nerve, which causes my quadriceps to spasm continuously when I walk. This progresses to burning pain and numbness. I'm now working with a physiatrist, who feels the irritation is due to a listhesis at L3. My walking is limited to indoors and around the yard. My job as an occupational therapist in my local school district requires a lot of walking, so I'm now using an electric scooter. Any suggestions?

[diana]

I've also had the numbness in my right leg & only able to walk so far & then have to sit down for a while. I'm possibly looking at a 3rd surgery. The last harrington rod surgery was 25 yrs ago.