
Originally Posted by
jrnyc
it is like a different operation, to get results like that...
maybe that is why, when i read a post from someone who had
surgery that doesn't go low on the spine, it seems foreign to me.
the procedures that go into the lumbar, and to the pelvis, seem to me
like a different world in the results achieved.
(that is just my personal reaction)
jess
Jess it's the same operation (fusion) but done on a part of the spine that doesn't bend or flex much anyway, the thorax. So the loss of that small amount of bending flexing through the rib cage is very minimal. My kids didn't even notice anything different until I asked them to try to bend through the rib cage. And even then is was only a minimal loss from side to side. There was no noticeable loss front to back through the rib cage that they noticed. They truly look and feel normal after fusion.
Even lumbar fusions don't affect flexibility too much if they stay above L4 or so if I am remembering the testimonials correctly. Ti Ed posted something about range of motion of each lumbar segment and even the lowest (L5?) still had about a 25* ROM. It's mainly the fusions to pelvis that seem to have noticeable losses in flexibility but I hope others will comment if that is correct.
Sharon, mother of identical twin girls with scoliosis
No island of sanity.
Question: What do you call alternative medicine that works?
Answer: Medicine
"We are all African."