Spinal Fusion Recovery Steps

Over the past decade, there has been a significant increase in spinal fusion recovery after surgery all over the world across different surgical disciplines. Surgical intervention is effective in improving spine-related health quality. Moreover, as nationwide health care expenditures grow, the value of any type of intervention becomes increasingly important.

Spinal fusion or spondylodesis is a neurosurgical or orthopedic surgical technique, joining two or more vertebrae. The spinal fusion procedure can be at any level in the spine, such as cervical, thoracic or lumbar, which can prevent any possible movement between the fused vertebrae. Healthcare professionals define bone grafting, either from the patient, donor, or artificial bone substitutes, to help the bones heal. In addition, the most common pathological conditions treated by spinal fusion involve spinal stenosis, spondylolisthesis, spinal fractures, scoliosis, and kyphosis.

Take into account that there can be different complications during or after the spinal surgery, such as infection, blood loss, nerve damage, and degeneration at the adjacent spinal segments.

Types of interventions

Surgical interventions are defined as active rehabilitation or usual care. As for the postsurgical interventions period, it involves all possible forms of active rehabilitation treatment, aiming to restore or improve function. All forms of the group or therapist-led exercise training or stabilization training, taking into consideration muscle-strengthening exercises and flexibility training, as well as educational materials encouraging activity.

Researchers inform that active rehabilitation is more effective than usual care for short-term improvement in low back pain and long-term improvement in back and leg pain. However, active rehabilitation could not be confirmed to be more effective than usual care in both the short-term and long-term.

Recovery Steps

The process of recovery following spinal fusion is usually variable and dependable. Spinal fusion recovery time depends on the individual surgeon’s preference and the special type of the performed procedure.

The average period of hospital length after you recover from TOPS spine surgery is about 3.7 days. However, some of the patients can go home even at the same time, but it could be possible if they undergo a dimple cervical spinal fusion at an outpatient surgery center. Also, if an invasive procedure is not complicated, staying in the hospital can be reduced. The process of spinal fusion surgery recovery is full of specific activities and individual rehabilitation training programs. Below, there are listed special restrictions after spinal surgery:

• Walking – a patient should stay in a bed after surgery and walk only after the day. After the recovery process, it is recommended to walk to boost blood flow, which in turn has an impact on the prevention of pneumonia and constipation. However, a patient must avoid strenuous activities such as jogging, aerobic exercises, or weight lifting.
• Sitting – this activity can be possible at 1-6 weeks after the surgery. Patients may have some troubles sitting or standing in one position for very long and may need pain medicine in the weeks after surgery. The process of recovery can take six months to a year for your back to get better completely.
• Lifting – it is better to avoid lifting something until 12 weeks;
• Driving – a patient is allowed to drive at 3-6 weeks;
• Return to sedentary work – a patient can return to work between 3-6 weeks; if it is about the manual work, a patient can return to work between 7-12 weeks. If your job involves light physical labor, it may take about 3 to 6 months. Many patients who are involved in heavy labor can never return to their jobs.
• A patient is recommended to rest, get enough sleep, and walk every day.
• During a month, a patient may avoid riding in a car for more than 30 minutes.
• Each person needs his/her time to recover after the surgery. After the surgery, the severity of a patient’s condition depends on a person’s age and fitness level. The older the patient, the more healing time it would be necessary, as the body with age starts healing slower than when a person is young.
• Preparing for the surgery, a patient is recommended to schedule a full recovery plan both with a surgeon and with a therapist. Also, a patient has to know how to deal effectively with a headache after surgery and about other healthcare problems.
• Healthcare professionals inform that it is not necessary to have a long rehabilitation after the surgery. However, there are some issues that improve functional status and low back pain so some of the surgeons may recommend recovery procedures.

Arthrodesis is one of the most commonly employed procedures for treating conditions of the spine involving deformity, trauma, and degenerative disc disease as well as spondylolisthesis. 

At the present day, fusion is one of the most common treatment procedures of various spinal conditions, with degenerative causes being the most common indication. Frequency, utilization, and hospital charges for spinal fusion have increased at a higher rate than laminectomy, hip replacement, knee arthroplasty, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty, and coronary artery bypass graft procedures in the United States from 1998 to 2008.

Conclusion

Spinal arthrodesis or the creation of fusion was specially developed for the treatment of instability and deformity due to such various diseases as scoliosis and traumatic injury. The technique of spinal surgery requires prolonged postoperative rest and the use of braces, and many patients are cast for immobilization. Surgical implants for the spine were developed and integrated with the main aim of improving the rate of fusion and hastening patients’ recovery after surgery. Adult people usually have low back pain at some time.

Current surgical technology provides opportunities for the use of surgical implants in the spine to correct deformity, manage pain, and improve arthrodesis through the immobilization of the spine. The process of recovery is vital, and a patient has to prepare for it. A patient has to facilitate each stage after the recovery because the quality of surgery would mostly depend on the recovery procedures.