Anyone familiar with laser spine surgery?

[ABNAK]

My lower back is farked. Four bulging discs, from L5-S1 on up. The older I get the more frequently it bothers me. It's certainly a hindrance because I have a PT program (cardio 5x per week, weights 4x per week) that I'm pretty religious about. Getting to the point that just about every morning lately it's stiff as hell when I get out of bed but gradually loosens up as the day wears on. I'll be 52 soon but at times I feel like those old bent-over guys! Do NOT want my life to devolve to that.

I've seen adds on TV for laser spine surgery. Supposedly just a Band-Aid and quick recovery. Anyone (especially you physicians out there) familiar with it? Anyone actually have it done? Did it help? I know back surgeries don't exactly have a stellar track record of success but was wondering if this type of surgery yielded better results.

[26 Inf]

My lower back is farked. Four bulging discs, from L5-S1 on up. The older I get the more frequently it bothers me. It's certainly a hindrance because I have a PT program (cardio 5x per week, weights 4x per week) that I'm pretty religious about. Getting to the point that just about every morning lately it's stiff as hell when I get out of bed but gradually loosens up as the day wears on. I'll be 52 soon but at times I feel like those old bent-over guys! Do NOT want my life to devolve to that.

I've seen adds on TV for laser spine surgery. Supposedly just a Band-Aid and quick recovery. Anyone (especially you physicians out there) familiar with it? Anyone actually have it done? Did it help? I know back surgeries don't exactly have a stellar track record of success but was wondering if this type of surgery yielded better results.

Just yesterday I was summoned to my ex-wife's house to visit with one of my ex-sister-in-laws. I hadn't seen her for about a decade, at that time she was just about crippled by lower back pain. Anyhow, I gave her a hug and asked her how her back was doing. She said 'great,' I asked 'surgery?' she replied 'no, pilates.'

Her husband is a nuke engineer who makes his living on power plant reactors, he gets paid a lot, so she'd been to a few docs, none of whom wanted to do the surgery at that time.

[Averageman]

I was warned by my step father that surgery was the absolute last resort and that it could actually leave me with the same or worse issues.
I tried a number of things and acupuncture and chiropractic care eventually solved my problems.
I got absolutely no where with .mil doctors or the VA. I could never see the same Army doc twice in a row and the VA gave me the impression that I was scamming them.
Faced with the prospect of life long pain or immobility, I really would pursue every other avenue before surgery.

[skywalkrNCSU]

I heard some people talking about fixing bulging discs by injecting stem cells into the disc. I am sure that sort of thing wouldn't be covered by insurance and I only heard about it briefly but they made it seem like a miracle cure. Just an idea of something that you could possibly look into.

[ABNAK]

I heard some people talking about fixing bulging discs by injecting stem cells into the disc. I am sure that sort of thing wouldn't be covered by insurance and I only heard about it briefly but they made it seem like a miracle cure. Just an idea of something that you could possibly look into.

My boss had it done to both knees for a total of $8K. We have good insurance but no insurance that I'm aware of covers that.

[MegademiC]

My lower back is farked. Four bulging discs, from L5-S1 on up. The older I get the more frequently it bothers me. It's certainly a hindrance because I have a PT program (cardio 5x per week, weights 4x per week) that I'm pretty religious about. Getting to the point that just about every morning lately it's stiff as hell when I get out of bed but gradually loosens up as the day wears on. I'll be 52 soon but at times I feel like those old bent-over guys! Do NOT want my life to devolve to that.

I've seen adds on TV for laser spine surgery. Supposedly just a Band-Aid and quick recovery. Anyone (especially you physicians out there) familiar with it? Anyone actually have it done? Did it help? I know back surgeries don't exactly have a stellar track record of success but was wondering if this type of surgery yielded better results.

Do you do back excersizes (therapy) daily?
My dad has 2 slipped disks iirc, and if he misses more than a day, he starts to feel it.
Otherwise, he hasn't had problems in 15 years. I know everyone and each case is probably unique, just something to try before going under the knife.

[ABNAK]

Do you do back excersizes (therapy) daily?
My dad has 2 slipped disks iirc, and if he misses more than a day, he starts to feel it.
Otherwise, he hasn't had problems in 15 years. I know everyone and each case is probably unique, just something to try before going under the knife.

Link to give me an idea of what he's doing?

[Hmac]

"Laser" spine surgery is a marketing hook. It's just minimally invasive spine surgery....removing the bulging disc through a small incision in the back. It's appropriate for about 30% of spine operations, and really has nothing to do with lasers. If all you have is a bulging disc, it might be appropriate for you. If you have any degree of spinal stenosis or any degree of spondylolisthesis, "band-aid" surgery won't be appropriate for you....you'd need a formal laminectomy and probably a fusion.

You need to take recent MRI in to a spine surgeon that does MIS, get his/her opinion. Don't rely on just one opinion, get two or three.

[Stickman]

If doing exercises daily is enough to handle your back pain, the person doesn't have it all that bad. Get the MRI, and talk to a neuro or ortho surgeon to see what they think. If you can do something else instead of surgery, and that will work for you, then you aren't ready for surgery. If you don't have the pain every day, you aren't ready for surgery. If the pain isn't enough to make you totally non functional, you aren't ready for surgery.

I have a friend who slices spines for a living, sadly you aren't in his area or I would recommend him to you. Great guy, and exceedingly knowledgeable.

Another thing to remember is that a lot of people have bulged disks and no pain. The bulge by itself isn't the indicator of the need for surgery, it is the list of symptoms that go along with it.

Get a good MRI done, and go from there.

[Coal Dragger]

Like the doc says get multiple opinions. I have a bad L5/S1 and L4/L5 didn't look that great either. No surgery for me although I was close a few years ago. Strength training has been helpful, being mindful to keep good form and check my ego at the door when I hit the gym. I've even started squatting and deadlifting again, and it has actually made my lower back feel better. Same for swimming, which is my cardio along with cycling. Mostly swimming though because it's a nice way to cool down after lifting and make sure everything is loosened up before I head home. So if I can I'll do my scheduled weight training, and then swim for about 30 minutes.

I have had one back injury since starting the heavy squats and deadlifts. About 3 weeks ago I bombed a squat and over exerted a muscle in my lower back. It hurt like a bastard for about 5-6 days, but I'm back at it.

As for back surgery I have some friends and coworkers who have had laminectomies. The results have been mixed, but kind of predictable. The guys who sit square on their fat asses stuffing junk in their face who have had back surgery still have back pain. The guys who are active and who were in decent to good shape before surgery have had better results, their bodies were stronger going in, and recovered faster, plus they got more out of their physical therapy afterwards.

So even if you have surgery don't expect it to be a magic bullet. Probably going to take effort on your part to get a good post surgery outcome that will last. If you haven't tried swimming, and you have access to a pool give it a shot. I've found it to be very helpful not only for abdominal/core fitness, but also for just loosening up a cranky back on days that I'm stiff.