Scoliosis? Kyphosis? Scheuermann Kyphosis? Surgery?

Question

Please answer if you had surgery for these condition. I have Scheuermann Kyphosis. I am 28 now and want to get it fixed through surgery. Can you still run, play football, swim, etc after the surgery? How is your movement after surgery?

Answer 1

Hi, I have Scoliosis and I had a spinal fusion with a Harrington Rod 22 years ago. I have to guess that they are going to fuse your spine for your condition. I definitely felt a difference in how my body moved after surgery, I felt a the loss of the flexibility of my spine. It was weird at first (Alien) but then it became what I know to be normal. Swimming is fine, it's probably the best exercise for a fused spine. When I was younger I didn't have any problems running, now that I'm older I've developed disc degeneration and Arthritis in the parts of my spine that are not fused and running aggravates that. Times have changed and the fusion surgery is different now, also back then I was never informed about physical therapy and how to take care of my back. By taking good care of your back with core strengthening exercises and stretching you will probably be able to do a lot more activity and help prevent some of the age related issues that I have now at age 40. I wish I could tell you football would be OK but I think tackle football will be risky...touch football might be an option after you've fully recovered and if you stretch good, of course only your doctor can say for sure. But like I said I used to be able to run before my disk related issues so I don't see why you couldn't do a lot of the same things you like to do. Activities with a lot of twisting used to always make me hurt the next day, but then again I didn't engage in regular stretching and back exercises. My disc degeneration and Arthritis are directly related to my Harrington Rod surgery, I am told that those parts of my spine had to compensate for the parts of my spine that did not move all these years and I am at risk for developing something called Flatback which is a loss of lumbar lordosis which could cause me to start bending over at the waist and lead to more surgery, I have not developed this yet and I hope to prevent it with yoga and swimming. The only reason I'm telling you is that so you can ask your doctor about your own risk of developing these conditions as you age and how to prevent them. Well I hope some other people chime that have your particular situation, we all have different bodies and recover differently, some people might be able to do a lot more than I could especially with the newer advances in surgery. Good luck, I hope I was some help.