Is there kiting after cervical fusion?

[cdakiter]

I've been told by a neurosurgon that I have a bulging disc in the c6-7 that is pressing on my spine, and am needing single stage, dual phase cervical fusion. As an avid kiter you can imagine I took it as a death sentance for my kiting future. But the other day he mentioned if things go well maybe I don't have to write kiting off completely. Maybe just ride conservatively he suggests. As we all know with kiting, there is no "for sure-ness" when it comes to dealing with the wind so I feel a bit hesitant to pursue kiting, but broken hearted in the worst way to give it up. (Better than a wheelchair, though)
I know there are a few kiters on this forum with varying medical backgrounds, not to mention several others with back problems and other limitations, but still find a way to kite. Anyone with similar experiences or knowlege thereof willing to chime in with opinions?
Scott

[Ozone Kites AUS]

I've been told by a neurosurgon that I have a bulging disc in the c6-7 that is pressing on my spine, and am needing single stage, dual phase cervical fusion. As an avid kiter you can imagine I took it as a death sentance for my kiting future. But the other day he mentioned if things go well maybe I don't have to write kiting off completely. Maybe just ride conservatively he suggests. As we all know with kiting, there is no "for sure-ness" when it comes to dealing with the wind so I feel a bit hesitant to pursue kiting, but broken hearted in the worst way to give it up. (Better than a wheelchair, though)
I know there are a few kiters on this forum with varying medical backgrounds, not to mention several others with back problems and other limitations, but still find a way to kite. Anyone with similar experiences or knowlege thereof willing to chime in with opinions?
Scott

Oooops - what Neill said!

Cya and

Goodwinds

Steve

[Neill]

Steve, he's talking about cervical fusion, not lumbar fusion. Neck vs lower back.

Mate, depending on how he's going to do it, i reckon you should be okay to kite again. Usually they pull a bit of bone from the top of your iliac crest and stick it on each side of the laminae, so you end up with two vertebra that are now one big one. Therefore no movement can occur at the site, so your other cervical segments get asked to do a little bit more on full extension/flexion/rotation etc. Usually not a bad result with these types of surgery. You only really need to be worried about heavy impact causing it to break off again, which unfortunately has the potential to be catastrophic if it does happen (severed spinal column)

Personally i would give it 6 months to heal and fuse up, and spend the last 4 months doing a LOT of stability strengthening for the neck extensors and traps etc, then i would go back to kiting. But hey, that's just me...... you really have to be confident in it before you do anything.

[Dave_5280]

.

[FredBGG]

But the other day he mentioned if things go well maybe.....
Scott

There are various things you can try before going under the knife.
The "if things go well" part is what you have to worry about.
Any vertebra fusion will put a lot of stress on the disks above and below.
Do some reaseach into post surgery results and adverse effects.
You would be suprised at how ineffective surgery can be.
I looked into surgery for a friend and I found reaserch that indicated that
other forms of therapy are just as effective and with less risks as well as
avoiding fusion that causes problems above and below.

I had a lower back problem after a car accident... (rear ended at a pay toll booth).
I was scheduled for surgery... I was told it would get far far worse if I did yoga and other therapies.
Well 25 years later I still have to see this threatened worsening... actually no problem at all.
What solved the problem was building core strenght and that was done without doing any crunches or any excercises that put pressure on the back.

A vegetarian diet or even better a vegan diet helps too.
This may sound a bit wacky, but it is not.
Meat is not produced in a natural manner. The animals are bread to be as tender as possible and
easier to butcher. Hormones and chemicals are used to reduce skeletal strenght to make it
easier to break joints apart. Have you ever wondered where all these ACL and torn rotator cuff injury increases come from. The additives end up in your body and weaken your structure.

Try inversion tables, light traction enhanced exercise, yoga (with a very good personal instructor...best if they are really old and none of this BS American style Power Yoga with airconditioning... slow intense yoga in a hot/warm room).
Traction enhanced excersise lets you increase spinal and support muscle strenght without putting
pressure on the disk.

Both my Father and Brother are (father was) back specialists. Very rearly would they let patients go for surgery.

As for running for training... if you have any back, neck or knee problems DON'T DO IT.
Running is one of the worst forms of training..... endless repetitive impact.
Bike riding with clip in shoes is the best you can do. Add yoga to that and your set.
With yoga start slowly and don't rush into flexing as much as the rest of the class.

DMSO is also helpfull in treating disk problems. DMSO is MSM with Oxygen attached.
It is readily absobed through the skin. Once absobed it breaks down into MSM and Oxygen.
The Oxygen hyper oxygenated the area and the MSM is the building block of cartilage collegen etc. I used it very sucessfully in curing a damaged rotator cuff.
I was told I needed surgery of the rotator cuff too. I opted against it.

Think about it. Don't think of the disk as an inert object that can't be "trianed or developed".

Now all this said there are cases where surgery if the way to go, but don't go for it without trying
the rest. Ther is massive over prescription of spinal surgery...after all it is very profitable.

[Rockstar]

First, get a second opinion !

Surgeons are REALLY keen to perform surgery,that's what they do !

Talk to a Chiropractor or physiotherapist.

If surgery is the best option,get a second opinion.

Then make it quite clear to them that you want to keep kiting !
Remember that they will always lean towards the super safe side.

I had 3 fractured vertebrae,and thought my life as I knew it was over. No problem ! Took 3 months to heal, and a few residual problems that i have regular Chiropractic adjustments to keep under control.

Don't worry,you will be back better and stronger than before !

[deltawake]

Surgeons don't live in big homes and drive fancy cars through NOT operating on people. Don't be too quick to go under the knife.
I have a chronic lower back condition ( bulding disc) from coming up short on a big snowboard hit. At times it flares up and I know the desperaton you must be feeling. The sleepless nights and feeling like you're 80 really makes you search for any fix.
I find that periods of inactivity are when my back goes to hell. As long as I'm keeping active my back stays in check. I wakeboard,kite and mountain bike pretty aggressively every week and I also still snowboard and ride mx. Interestingly kiting helps me a lot as I think it really works your abs/ core.
Inversion, streaching and lots of water really helps my back come right fast when it acts up.
Good luck!!!

[WindRyder]

I have a good friend who kites with us all the time. He underwent cervical fusion for similar circumstances. I am uncertain how long his recovery time was, but he rips more than most. I don't think that you can obtain a 100% yes or no on this, as each person is different, as is their specific condition. Good luck!!

[BWD]

From your description, you have a serious concern.
Sorry to hear you are going through this.
Don't worry about kiting too much.
Take care of your neck and see how it goes.
If your doctor says you may be able to do it again, he is probably right.
Things will probably work out, but there are no guarantees.
Protect what you've got; best wishes.

[Chriskef]

In a non-sicko way, it's reassuring to hear others share the same problems I do with back ailments. I have 3 worn discs protruding in my lower back and the pain is intense at times. I usually have to rest a week or more after a kite session. I live on a Greek island so at least I don't have the worry about surgical or non-surgical treatments since there aren't really any - certainly none of those described in the earlier posts. My doctor here told me to try and hang off a door frame or something and prescribed a 10 day course of injections. Hmmn!

I did some internet research and found some good stretching & core strengthening techniques worked for me. A lot safer & easier than hanging off a door frame too.

Good luck - thoughts are with you.

Chris