robbjunk

I was recently (4 weeks ago) diagnosed with two herniated cervical discs (C5-C6). I've been in for cervical epidural steroid injections, and although they've gotten me back on my feet, I'm nowhere near the active lifestyle that I used to enjoy (any sort of jarring or bouncing motion sends spasms of agony through my right arm, and I was planning on running a half-marathon in a few months. Say goodbye to that..... Plus, I've already lost 5-7 pounds, and have experienced a marked loss in muscle size and definition everywhere, due to lack of appetite, lack of sleep, too many pain medications, and too much sitting around).

I'm only 37, and I'm starting to despair that I'm going to be living the rest of my life limping around like a 80-year old. I'll admit, it's still early in the process, but the current conservative course of medication/injections seems like it will keep me relatively pain free, but only at the expense of any sort of exercise that I actually enjoy. However, through reading the boards, the traditional cervical fusion sounds like an absolute nightmare too -- I haven't seen any stories where people receiving the fusion are going back to any sort of active lifestyle.

I've been reading some more recent articles/web references about Minimally Invasive Spinal Surgery (MISS) /Endoscopy, where instead of yanking out an entire disc and fusing your spine, they simply go in with an endoscope and laser, remove the herniated portion of the disc that is impinging on the nerves, and cauterize the disc with a laser to prevent any further material from escaping and damaging the nerves. That seems like a much more sensible and reasonable alternative to removing a whole disc and "gluing" the vertebrae together.

Has anyone on the boards explored and/or actually undergone such a procedure? I'd be particulary interested if there are athletes out there who have experienced cervical disc injuries and have been able to return to a relatively active lifestyle.

Thanks in advance!