muscle soreness after surgery?

teteri66

I do not believe it is "normal." I had no muscle pain after any of my three spine surgeries, other than right around the incision site. I can't think why you would feel sore all over. If you are in an awkward position on the OR table, it usually effects a specific area....like, I had severe NERVE pain in the front-side of my leg. It is not an over-all, general soreness...at least not in my experience.

Perhaps it is some sort of general reaction to a medication you were given...I'm totally guessing here....

How are you doing otherwise??

melody84

The incision area is sore, but forgettable if I lay still. Otherwise I feel fine, except a bit tired. I am taking pain medicine on a schedule. Still my upper arms, legs, and chest area are sore like I just worked out at the gym, but a bit better than yesterday I think. Sometimes my legs feel a bit restless. I keep getting up every hour (admittedly, sometimes every two) to walk around the apartment for about ten minutes. I have no appetite, and haven't eaten today. Two light meals yesterday. I will be making myself eat dinner shortly. My surgeon is out until Monday, and I have already spoken with the one who is available. He didn't have any answers for me. So it is unusual for me to have soreness in my muscles? One of the nurses said it could have been from my positioning.. also immediately after surgery I had a four hour car ride laying on my back.... How should i be feeling at this point? I do feel like the surgery went well. I don't have the sciatic pain anymore, just this achy feeling.

teteri66

No one can really answer your questions with any certainty. Each person responds differently to the anesthetic, etc. It is normal to not have much appetite, and that can last quite awhile. In case no one has warned you, watch out for constipation if you are taking pain meds. Drink a lot of fluids, eat high fiber fruits and vegetables, prunes and blueberries are especially good for constipation.

I'm sure the ride home was somewhat traumatic for your body....that is a long time in the car. You'll probably be over these symptoms by Monday or Tuesday. Keep walking -- short distances several times per day....that keeps the spinal nerves stretched and keeps the scar tissue from attaching to those nerves. This will be especially important from about the second week out up to about 12 weeks. That's when most of the scar tissue fills in.

I can't speak from experience on how you "should" feel. I've only had fusion surgeries. You will feel some surgical pain for awhile yet, but usually the relief from the sciatic pain is so great that you don't mind the surgical pain that much.

Could you be dehydrated??

melody84

Definitely not dehydrated. Today I am on my 4th post op day. My muscle soreness has improved greatly. Don't feel the pain in my upper back and chest anymore, arms are much better, and legs are getting better too. I am having slight remnants of the sciatic pain I used to feel in my right leg. I have read that it will take time for my nerves to "settle down" and that this is not unusual to feel, but it is still freaking me out a bit. I am going to call the surgeon shortly. I suppose that you are right that no one can give me any definite answers here. It is just pretty scary facing the unknown alone. I did sit down for ten minutes for the first time since surgery today, and the only pain I felt was in the incision site. When I stood up, no pain, but I did have a very slight burning in my big toe- so slight compared to how it used to feel. I'm still staying on top of the short walks every hour, but it is just around the apartment as I have not braved the three flights of stairs yet. I suppose I will probably continue to update my progress through this thread. Anyone still reading please feel free to comment.

teteri66

You probably shouldn't be going up and down those stairs more than once a day at the beginning. My first surgeon didn't really care, but my current one said to limit my trips to once per day, and that was just for one flight to get to the second story bedrooms.

Glad you're feeling better. Give yourself another couple weeks and you'll probably be almost back to normal aside from some aches and pains once in awhile.

melody84

So, today is my 9th day post op, and I actually feel like I am getting a bit of relief from the nerve pain. My doc said that the muscle soreness I felt initially after surgery was probably from the anesthesia. I went down the stairs and outside for the first time on the 7th day, and today I have made two trips! I just came back from walking about 1/4 mile. I was really discouraged about the sciatic pain not going away. And the fact that it is coming and going now is both a letdown and a blessing. Feels great when I can take some steps without the calf pain, but it is still there just waiting to remind me, isn't it? At least now I feel like I may be getting better. I hope that someone reads this in the first days of their recovery and it can give them a bit of hope. I was starting to lose mine, but today the sun came out... and I got to feel it on my skin!!