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Improvements in sitting & lifting everyday objects after surgery

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  • Improvements in sitting & lifting everyday objects after surgery

    Hello everyone,

    Can anyone provide their experiences with sitting for long periods in armless chairs and lifting objects or carrying tote bags after their surgeries? I am 37 with a severe curve (lumbar is 90*, not sure what the thoracic one is but probably around 50) and I'm finally planning to undergo the surgery - many thanks to everyone who posts here as the detailed experiences have helped me in my decision making. I have a pretty high level of functioning for someone with such a big curve, but I have problems with sitting in banquet hall-type chairs (I'm at a week-long conference in a hotel and I'm in a fair amount of agony). I also find that I get pain from carrying my laptop + a large notebook, either just in my arms or slung over my shoulder in a tote bag. Should I hope to get improvement in my pain/discomfort levels following the surgery?

  • #2
    I commute via train to work, carrying a purse with a laptop and a tote bag as well. Before surgery I had a lot of pain and could count the steps to the train platform. Post-op it is far better, but I am almost a year out now. By 6 months out it was starting to improve (take it easy for several months - they're cutting through all the muscles up there you know), and now I still get some fatigue but nothing like it was before. In short, yes, you will have marked improvement.

    As for the banquet chairs, nobody is comfortable in those, regardless of their spine. I think they were made for torture during the Inquisition.
    Female, age 38
    4 years of bracing, concluded at 42*upper/38*lower
    currently 64*upper/40*lower
    Fused T3-L4 on Feb 23 2011
    now 32*upper/18* lower

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    • #3
      I carry a small inflatable pillow in my purse that I use for certain chairs -- you can order it from comforthouse.com. My husband used to joke that Boachie should have sewn a pillow to the outside of my back during the surgery because I was forever losing those pillows and having to buy new ones....but they're great. I hardly ever need the pillow anymore -- just if I'm going to be sitting in a folding chair for more than an hour or so.
      Chris
      A/P fusion on June 19, 2007 at age 52; T10-L5
      Pre-op thoracolumbar curve: 70 degrees
      Post-op curve: 12 degrees
      Dr. Boachie-adjei, HSS, New York

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      • #4
        Great to hear that I have something to look forward to. I went out and bought myself a Brookstone lumber pillow - it's memory foam and not inflatable, but it seems to help in those stupid chairs.

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