spinal fusion and return to surfing
Gday Spoonerism
Going well as far as my back' it's great! I do try to keep on top of stretching etc but I'm working as much as before with stone and landscaping but not going as hard which I don't want to do anyway.
As far as surfing,well my foot hasn't recovered from the nerve damage so I have numbness top of foot to my big toe with residual weakness. It is way better than pre surgery but I would say Its around 70% to normal. Pre surgery movement in my foot was zero so still a great outcome.
So my foot is causing me a bit of grief when surfing and due to the numbness it doesn't like cold water and will cramp quickly. Back is fine as far as pop up etc but mentally I'm thinking about my foot when i go to stand up rather than looking down the line thinking about what I'm going to do on the wave.
I did surf well last year around April and then as the water got colder the foot came into play. I stayed out of the water and concentrated on a lot of exercise to try to fire up the nerves to my foot. It is slowly getting better but I think I'm fighting a mental battle against it now and probably need to surf more. Very frustrating as I was surfing at a good level when my back felt good pre surgery.
I think 18 months post surgery is what you should aim for re surfing again. If you have little or no numbness you should be fine.
There's not a lot of info out there re surfing and spinal fusion so I hope I've helped. I definitely haven't given up. Good luck.
Hi oxrox,
You've made a lot of progress and '70% to normal', you'd be stoked with that. Sounds like S1 nerve compression still going on with your foot, must have been a severe pinching. I find anti-inflammatories help with that even this far down the track.
Immediately after surgery the sciatica pain was gone but next 4 months was the period in hell! Knees to toes was extreme nerve pain, couldn't stand, sit, lay down, just some walking the pain lessened and a ute load of those opioid analgesics. Mega inflammation going on at the surgery site and consequently pushing on the damaged nerve sheaths, causing the fun down there!
All good now, just minor feet tingling occasionally, doesn't bother me too much. The fusion takes time and waiting on that to complete before I hit the water again.
I recall in your early posts that you were doing heaps of exercises with rehab, 'pushups, chin ups, cat cow, stretches, lunges, knees to chest', I'm cautious with that as I don't want to loosen the screws since the fusion is still at work, have been swimming, small surf body surf, long walks, (going to try a boogie board surf next up). Did you do any bike riding as part of the rehab?
Thanks for sharing your rehab journey oxrox.
Wow your recovery was way different to mine. Was off all meds about 9 days post surgery i think.
Yeah did a lot of bike riding. I was super focused on being able to surf at a reasonable level again hence the exercise but my foot is the roadblock. I will try anti inflammatories. Thanks for the tip.
Sounds like you're over the worst and hopefully keep progressing . All the best.
All the best gents, I had an L5-S1 herniated disc which was pushing on the nerve and caused left side leg and foot to be pretty non-functional.
6 months to surf again, no surgery but bottom of foot still numb.
Other than the bottom of your foot being numb FR do you feel normal in your back and any sciatica pain still present?
I'm unfortunately booked in for spinal fusion L5/S1 in just over a week. Freaking out but have no choice as I have drop foot due to severe compression of my L5 nerve root.
Basically, no surgery and I wont be able to walk properly for the rest of my life. No surfing, my work as a stonemason/ landscaper would be difficult and lot's of things I enjoy would become a chore.
Has anyone had spinal fusion and still surfing at a reasonable level? I`m still surfing shortboards at a good level 5`10 twinny with stabilizer for most days. I`m scared shitless I wont be able to surf as good. I`m no expert on spines but I`m hoping fusion being so low in my back, I will still have the mobility through the rest of my spine to surf ok.