Hi Karen,
Amazing that you are coming up on a year pretty soon! You have had such a wonderful recovery.
I went into surgery in very good cardiovascular shape from swimming, and I think it helped my recovery a lot. I returned to the pool at 3-1/2 weeks post-op, first doing walking in the warm pool, then slowly kicking on the kick board and finally slowly swimming by about 6-8 weeks. I experienced some very painful bouts of plantar fasciitis foot problems that curtailed my walking program, so instead I swam. When I told my surgeon how much I was swimming by 3 months post-op he was astounded, but thought it was ok if I was careful and felt ok. No flip turns though!
I am now at 13 months post-op. I was cleared at 12 months for most all activities except my surgeon told me not to do anything that increased axial loading of the spine (like lifting weights over my head). He also told me I should avoid twisting, which is fine, because it doesn't feel too great anyway! I am very active again at the gym and pool. I swim 4-5 days per week for 30-60 minutes. I also do the elliptical for 15-20 minutes several times per week, and do 5 weight machines 3-4 times/week. I do hip abductors, hip adductors, seated row, lateral pulldown, and some other type of row. I am concentrating on strengthening the muscles of my upper back in particular, because I was having issues with daily upper back fatigue and strain. Now that I have stepped up my workouts to include the gym activities, my upper back feels much stronger and rarely aches anymore. The rest of my back feels great, too.
I am able to do the plank twice a day for about 30 seconds. I tried it around 6 months post-op and I felt it put an awful strain on my back...now it feels solid. I am not sure about the rest of the exercises you mention, but I will be curious to hear what Lenke has to say. I imagine that most will be ok.
I did seriously strain my right scapula area a few weeks ago trying to clip my nails--that is still not easy for me. I think I need a long-handled nail clipper. I remember TiEd saying he had a severe soft-tissue injury some time back from a similar domestic activity. I guess most accidents do happen in the home.
Take care,
Gayle, age 50
Oct 2010 fusion T8-sacrum w/ pelvic fixation
Feb 2012 lumbar revision for broken rods @ L2-3-4
Sept 2015 major lumbar A/P revision for broken rods @ L5-S1
mom of Leah, 15 y/o, Diagnosed '08 with 26* T JIS (age 6)
2010 VBS Dr Luhmann Shriners St Louis
2017 curves stable/skeletely mature
also mom of Torrey, 12 y/o son, 16* T, stable