Kyphoplasty..

[BobCatMax]

Has anyone on here ever had kyphoplasty? If so, what was your experience and more importantly, recovery time?

Had an off back in 2019, and they missed a fractured t9 vertebrae in the xray (apparently not uncommon). Recently discovered and the MRI shows its still bruised and surrounded by fluid, so it either never healed or has been aggravated enough to flare up, so balloon kyphoplasty has been the suggested "fix"

[redefined_cycles]

Me personally (first job on high dependency unit where we worked with the spinal surgeons who were vaguely exciting... but sometimes had/have the 'God-complex') I'd try my best to exhaust all other avenues...

To give you an example, about 2 years ago (probably from not looking after my tummy and overeating like an idiot) I ended up at the GP cos the missus forced me to go discuss an umbilical hernia. GP was nice and told me he wasn't concerned but might be a good idea to go show the general surgeons.

Went in for the meeting and I'd already read up about the options in such kind of surgery. Surgeon went straight to the 'cutting me up and adding a mesh' options. He was nice and smily before the meeting. I asked if there was non surgical options. He said, yes... smile disappeared and he never wanted to know anymore

Two years later and careful following of the fat fighters thrwad on here and keeping hungry every so often and the hernia is the same or less. No surgery and win win for me.

I'm not saying don't have it done, but do remember to do some proper reading and check out the long term experiences of the folks who've already had it done...

[BobCatMax]

Thanks for the reply Shaf.

His other suggestion was do nothing surgical

Both options included lots of physio

[redefined_cycles]

Thanks for the reply Shaf.

His other suggestion was do nothing surgical

Both options included lots of physio

Yes... physio is always good... for reference I had chronic back pain issues for about 5 years, 10 or 15 so years ago. I changed lifestyle (weightloss/control; sleeping on floor and not letting back get too cold; good moving and handling at work and standing up for my back when some people try to cut corners; a herbal med - honey, smidgen of blackseed oil amd olive oil 15 mins before food on empty stomach in warmed milk but not boiled oricrowaved; stopped/minimalise processed foods and gone to raw/unpasteurized milk; good sitting position in car/chairs; light squats daily... etc etc etc. My ex tutor who's a physio also told me of the mckenzie exercises etc) with lots of cycling in an optimum position...

[BobCatMax]

Here's the MRI scan for reference. Quite scary and sobering to have been walking around like this for 2 years

[Scud]

I had similar a good 20 years ago, i broke my neck playing rugby, fractured C6/C7 from memory in a collapsed scrum, reading the kyphoplasty definition that seems to be placing a cement in the area to preserve the disc spacing around the spinal column and relieve pressure, whereas i had a ceramic spacer of sorts placed in my neck, so slightly different.

Ultimately the surgeons did a wonderful job for me, i get some neck pain and spasms if i spend too long staring at computer screen and not taking breaks, and it was the end of my playing rugby for a living, but it saved me from much worse.