Hi
I had an L5-S1 laminectomy on Feb. 23rd. I did everything my surgeon told me to do or not to do. Maybe even took him too seriously if you ask my wife! I practically begged my Dr. to let me go back to work, but he said I needed 3-4 weeks of PT before he'd sign me off to return. I went to PT for a week and started to get my pain in the side of my leg and a new sharp pain in my foot. I went back to him and he ordered an MRI. From what I can understand from the report, I have scar tissue pushing on my nerves. Is there something that he can do without surgery to relieve or even remove the scar tissue? Or is this something I'm going to have to live with. I know I need to talk to him, and I will next Thursday, but my wife and I are not ones to sit and wait. Any responses are greatly appreciated!
Marvin
I know you have come to the right place for answers and did not want your post to go unnoticed but I really am unsure how they would deal with removing scar tissue without surgery.
I am sure somelne on here has experienced something similar and will respond.
Just want you to know that I admire you doing everything the Dr. said and following all the instructions as I know that is the hardest thing to do.
Scar tissue is rough. You take it out and it comes back. You may get a little relief in between. I've had several lady surgeries and scar tissue came back twice. It is more painful then the original problem. Mine never showed up on cat scans. They only found when they went in and looked. Each time they took out more came back. It does cause a lot of pain. Hope you feel better.
Having some scar tissue after back surgery is pretty normal. The surgeon will be able to tell if there is too much that would warrant a problem. Since we all get scar tissue from back surgery the problem with another surgery to remove the scar tissue is the surgery itself will create even more scar tissue. But if you are having these problems you definitely want your surgeon to review the actual MRI films.
I had close to the same surgery and I know after the first week of p/t I was pretty sore, probably from laying around recooperating after surgery. I also got some leg pains, but didn't experience any sharp foot pains. If you had a good therapist and he knew your were recently post-op he should have started you off slowly and then depending on what you could handle, built you up from there. Maybe he built you up to quick.
It doesn't sound like the therapy did something wrong as the MRI would have picked it up, but it's good that you stopped p/t until you saw the doctor. If your concerned thats always the right thing to do.
Goodluck and let us know how you're doing. Take care, Chris
It also depends on where the scar tissue is and how much there is. My therapist did soft tissue work on me to keep scar tissue from building up and from attaching onto anything else, but it sounds like yours might be too deep for that. She also gave me an exercise she calls "nerve glides" for nerve damage from the surgery, which I think (but I may be wrong) was because of scar tissue tightening up around them. I hope your doctor has good news for you at your appt. Let us know.
