Hi, Rob, Dan Dannenfelser, RPT, here from Sacramento. I can echo Gordon's comments. Same surgery in March of 1992, (actually, L5-S1), same unimaginable pain down my left leg. Pain disappeared after the surgery. I now have the same numb area on the top of my left foot and great toe. The numbness does not affect anything. I grew up playing competitive tennis, and played for a few years after the surgery. I was curious to see if the numbness hindered muscle control on the left foot, but by watching the wear patterns on the tennis shoes, I saw no problems. You should end up pretty much as good as new. As soon as possible after the surgery, move as much as possible. Become a jock and a gym rat. Core strength, especially legs and abdomen, will protect the back in the future. Keep the weight down, and stretch several times a day. Remember, objects in motion tend to remain in motion, objects at rest tend to remain at rest....... Best of luck, and keep us posted, Dan -----Original Message----- From: pnotnr at aol.com To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Sun, Jan 10, 2010 7:44 am Subject: Re: [pianotech] Laminotomy and getting back to work Hello Rob, I'm not sure if I had exactly the same procedure that you are about to have. I had back surgery about 10 years ago (in my early forties) to fix a protruding disc at L4 (or maybe L3?). I had terrible shooting pain down my left leg (which my doctor said was better then having it at the site of the injury.) They snipped off the protruding part of the disc (I guess about 50%) Is that what they are going to do on you? Immediately after the surgery the pain was gone. I took the pain meds for about a week because they told me to, but I didn't think they were really needed. I did have two months of occupational therapy, and did what I was told, but I felt fine right after a couple days. One of the things they made me do was carry a plastic milk crate up and down a flight of stairs with about 20 to 30 lbs in it. The therapist had more trouble carrying the weight then I did! And I was back moving pianos after a few months. The therapist did have some good suggestions for posture when picking things up off the floor,etc. Strengthening your back muscles, especially twisting type strengthening when you get an okay from your doctor will greatly help you avoid a repeat injury. Moving a tuning lever torques your back more then piano moving (especially on Baldwins!) I do have a spot on the bottom of my left foot that feels numb all the time. It feels like I have an Ace bandage wrapped around it. But I gladly accept that in place of the horrible 'cattle prod like' pain I had prior to the surgery. I am a medium distance runner (4 to 7 miles) and the numbness in my foot is noticeable, but never prevents me from running. Sometimes my back feels raw, but I never have the zinger lightning bolts anymore. And I wonder if the rawness is mostly psychological since I'm aware I don't have that whole disc anymore. My surgery was minimally invasive. I have a 1-1/2" scar on my back. They used staples to close the incision and removing them was......interesting. I understand from a friend who recently had this surgery, that now they use super glue to close the incision. I didn't even have to spend a night in the hospital. Good luck with the surgery. If it goes like mine did, you're about to get your life back. Regards, Gordon Large, RPT Hallowell, ME -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100110/d7138030/attachment.htm>
This PTG archive page provided courtesy of Moy Piano Service, LLC