Hey as you can see I am new here. I am a 40 yr. old male. I had a previos back surgery in 1992 it was a microdiscectomy at the L5 S1 level. I did fairly well with it. But over the last few years (4-5yrs) it has been giving me problems at least once or twice a yr. I'll take muscle relaxants & anti-inflammatories and they usually help for a while. In the summer of 2002 it got worse again I went to see a nuerosurgeon (my girlfriend reccomended him. She is a Registered Nurse in the recovery room at the local hospital & she says he does back surgeries quite a lot with good results)He said the disc that I had surgery on in '92 had begun to degenerate. He recomended therapy which helped for a while as usual but about a year later in Aug. 2003 it got really bad with pain in the usual places lower back hip & legs and now I had pain where a man shouldnt be having pain (nuff said) Got another MRI and the doc said it had gotten even worse he said that the verterbra had begun to collapse. He said I would eventually have to have surgery. He said he would use a BAK cage. He showed what one looks like (looks like a hollow bolt) and showed me a model of a spine with cages in it. Some more anti-inflammatories,muscle relaxants and cortisone and I felt better until about late Nov. and it hit me again. He told me I had to get another MRI he said it sounded like it had collapsed further....anyway does anyone have the BAK cages.....how does it feel.....How is the mobility.....the doc told me I would have as much mobility as ever after I healed. But I want to hear from someone who actually lives with them....any info will be much appreciated Thanx

I'm getting a Stryker cage (I'm assuming it's the same thing or similar) on Thursday. I would appreciate mobility reports too. I've heard that mobility will be fine with just one cage, but limited with two. I'm a competitive adult skater, and really hope I will be back on the ice someday. Mobility is important, but so is being able to do high impact activities (such as jumping, in my case).

I was told the success rate is 80%...............so opted to go for it, rather than 100% odds of living miserably like I am, and not being able to do anything.

It's a tough decision to go ahead. I thought about it for quite awhile.

My son had the surgery in October 2002. He was 27. He is still suffering a great deal. Is addicted to pain medication and his life is ruined. I begged him to wait as there are so many new options being tested now. A very successful option being used in Europe is a new material that will act like a disc and replace the metal cages and the need for bones to fuse. If you can wait... please try to.. Look for more information on this procedure. I know you will find more info on the Web. Once a fusion is done the new procedure will not be an option for later. I know that everyone is different but I have really never heard of anyone that feels as good as new after they had a fusion. I suppose there is no choice sometimes. Good Luck to you!!

Not sure is this will help but what the heck.
I had a 360 fusion L4-S1 with cages rods and screws on Jan 9 2003 (yup it's almost my anniversary)
I've noticed very little mobility problems. In the last year I've surfed, road roller coasters and painted the outside of my home. I did have to have the rods and screws removed in December. The story is that I was running out of room with the scar tissue and all that metal back there. I feel much better now. The good doctor cleaned out the scar tissue, verified that I was fully fused, left the cages in and gave me on hell of a paper weight. He let me keep my hardware (ok so I'm weird).
I'm not sure if it's for everyone, but in my case it was a life saver!
Good Luck

BionicSurfer
(guess I should change my name now?)