I have a student who recently went in for surgery having herniated 2 disks and he had fusion done for 3-4 & 5-6.He is devastated now and severly depressed because doctors tell him don’t even think about combat sports again, and this guy’s world was built around training, working as a personal trainer in the mornings, working a part time job in the afternoons and training every evening. He built his life around fighting./o:p
So what I’m hoping to hear from you are your stories of injury and surgery and were you able to train again after surgery or was it too dangerous or painful etc./o:p
I had a spinal fusion (rod fused to spine chest to belly) due to scoliosis. Was told not to do alot of things, which I ignored for the most part. I did martial arts in one form or another for 25 years, and have lifted weights for longer. Grappling was tough on me, but I did a bit, and I tend to stay away from squats and dead lifts.
My advise is to him is to not give up hope, but to be smart... work slowly back into training and let his body and brain be his guide.
Best of luck and let me know if there is anything else I can do!
p.s. - I suffer more from other injuries I have incurred over the years than ones related to my fusion.
we had a student with the same situation as Kevin Curtis from above (rod fused due to scoliosis). It limited him in some ways grappling, mainly some flexibility issues, but for the most part he was fine. I think a lot of doctors pull the "stay away from all activites" as a way to cover their asses so he may want to consult one who is more sport oriented.
well I too have 2 herniated disks and expereince pain and numbness from it but have elected (or rather procrastinated) to delay any surgery until absolutely necessary.
He says that he feels much better already and he swears he even has a better range of motion due to the relief on the nerve root pressure from the herniated disks.
I can't imagine doing bjj/submission grappling/mma with fused cervical vertebrae. does anyone here do it? I was wondering however, if he could do muay thai as it requires a strong neck, but certainly not the cranking & manipulation that occurs in bjj.
chris colquitt - I think a lot of doctors pull the "stay away from all activites" as a way to cover their asses so he may want to consult one who is more sport oriented.
of course. If it were up to doctors we'd sit in padded rooms with helmets on so they don't get sued.
btw: his surgery was done by one of the top sports dr.'s in the DC area, who works on NFL players and other athletes who get spinal injuries. I
I have a herniated disc in my lower back, no surgery yet (hopefully never). My last fight was in September '09 and I haven't been able to rehab it to the point of being competitive yet.. hopefully I will someday.
In the meantime I can do light stuff here and there but I always pay for it.
Listen, no doctor is going to fix your back and then say, do whatever you want. That implies some kind of guarantee. He just needs to listen to his body and do what he can.
The guy most likely has an anterior plate and 6 screws in his neck. The metal is just holding the bones still while two other non native pieces of bone are wedged between those 3 vertebra where the disc used to be.
It takes about a year or maybe more for those pieces of bone to become part of his spine and the entire success of the surgery depends on that happening. Without the bone incorporating, the plate and/or screws will eventually break.
The guy really needs to take it easy until the fusion is solid. Just because he just got out of a fusion surgery doesn't mean he has a fused neck. It's like he just got a cast on a broken leg.
The spine also functions as a whole to take up stress on the entire body. Now that he has effectively 2 less motion segments in his neck, that means any stress to that area is now spread to less joints so each remaining joint has to do more work. That's the risk of training. If he screwed up the neck when all 7 cervical vertebra were functional, it's certainly possible that he can screw it up again now that he has 5 cervical vertebra.
That sucks man. I can't imagine what these athletes go through.
I have lifted weights all my life, but I just started getting into powerlifting almost one year ago.
I was going hard for almost 9 months, and I was really starting to enjoy it, until I aggrevated a buldging disc (twice) doing deadlifts. I was then on the couch/bed for over 2 months, and I have not lifted a weight over 100lbs in over 3 months.
It was really depressing (and it still is). It is very hard to have something that you love (or enjoy) taken away via personal injury. It is extremelly frustrating.
My heart goes out to him. I know how I feel (being an armchair athlete), I can't imagine how pros athletes or people who build their lives around sports feel when stuff like this happens to their body.
BIC, one of my good friends has a similar injury. He has a metal plate holding some of the disks together in the c1-c7 region. He was told the same things. I met him because he showed up at my gym and trained for a good few months before telling us how he broke his neck. He let us feel the metal and he brought in x-rays the next day to show us. He was one of the toughest, orneriest guys in the gym. He did everything everyone else did and then some.
Of course, every case is different. Hope your buddy makes out OK.
Bull_in_chinashop - I have a student who recently went in for surgery having herniated 2 disks and he had fusion done for 3-4 & 5-6. He is devastated now and severly depressed because doctors tell him don’t even think about _________________ again, and this guy’s world was built around training, working as a personal trainer in the mornings, working a part time job in the afternoons and training every evening. He built his life around _________.
If you like this kid and want the best for him, then you should help him find something that will fill in the blanks.
If this was years ago when "combat sports" weren't as popular we'd be talking about something else (motorcycle racing, car racing, powerlifting, skydiving, etc) but the end result would be the same. If someone you care about keeps doing ______, there's a real chance they could cause permanent, severe injury to themselves.
There comes a point in everyones life where they have to change and move away from things they have been passionalte about (pro football, baseball, and basketball players for example). Usually that comes later in life where it may be easier to understand/accept, but in this case it's probably someone who is young. That sucks, but it doesn't change the reality.
I was involved in the martial arts for over 20 years, but one final, significant injury ended that. Could I have continued after my recovery? Maybe, but there would always be the reality that the "next time" could be permanent.
Help this guy find other things to be passionate about. There are plenty of successful, athletic, great people in the world who don't trane MMA...
Just to clarify, is this a fusion of C3-C6, or C3/4 and C5/6?
Also there is a very real chance of injury competing in any combat sport with a healthy neck, let alone with a fusion. I broke and dislocated my neck when I was 18 in high school, and now have a fusion at C4/5. My neck didn't appreciate it, but I boxed and did BJJ for several years without generating any problems that my chiropractor couldn't handle.
