Archive:
Photos and Back Surgerys
(Spring/Summer 2005)
WooHoo! Photos from the Wednesday Night Ride, leaving from Alpine Cycle and Fitness in Idaho Falls.
My back still hurts, so I can't ride just yet,
but I CAN shoot photos. Anyway, here are the guys, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, Dave, and Dave.
Sometimes a couple of Davettes show up too, but not this night. Compared to the average citizen, the
Wednesday night pace is blistering fast; but compared to Lance, well maybe not so fast. Anyway, it was good
to see all of these faces again after 3 months being a cripple and another month in "tentative recovery mode."
(See below for the details.) So here they are, Dave Stew.
 
 
Spring 2005 What's Happenin'
A Back Surgery Chronicle
Part I
So some of you may be wondering why there's been so little action from EIBike this spring. So I'll tell you. I (Peter, the Everything Guy) managed to
rupture a disc in my back and have been reduced to a blubbering blob of dough. At this moment I am laying on the floor, working a computer that is networked
to the rest of my computers that are at regular desk-height for people who can sit w/o screaming in agony.
Ever try doing you taxes while laying on the floor? It's not easy. Fortunately, as a cyclist I already have the neck muscles to support my head.
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Anyway, as you might guess, I really can't spare the time to blab. Surgery appears likely, though a final decision has yet to be made. When I can ride again,
you'll hear all about the ordeal. Meanwhile, send all the spare pain killers from your bathroom cabinet. And on those windy or rainy days when you don't FEEL like
riding, well get out there and ride anyway. 'Cause tomorrow you might not be able to ride even if you FEEL like it.
Part II
Ok, so "we" decided on the back surgery thing after trying every possible alternative including phoning Elvis. The Miracle Martian Space Cream didn't
help, and neither did the pachyderm stomp back-stretching rack (with cupholder). In this case, I really didn't have a choice. There's a good chance the disc
was ruptured for a few years, and finally it got bad enough that I was effectively disabled. Without surgery, my right leg would have become paralyzed, and
a bunch of other bad things would have happened, all probably within less than a year.
Anyway, we can all decry the high cost of surgery, but in the final analysis, I was darned happy to pay the
massive deductible on my catastropic health insurance in anticipation of a paralysis-free leg.
The procedure is known as a lumbar discectomy, and is actually very common. Surgery is endoscopic, which
means the opening is bigger than arthroscopic, but much smaller than the old-fashioned "gills to gullet" machette chop. They drill an access-way by removing a
small piece of your backbone (I forget
what the specific bone is called, but the small piece removed isn't all that important), retract the nerve that's being compressed by the ruptured disc,
clean out all the ruptured stuff, and then leave.
Then I get to lay around for a couple weeks and try to remain as flat as possible to avoid compressing the disc. If all goes well, the disc will scar over,
the disc will not re-rupture, and I will live the rest of my life magically free of back pain. Physical therapy (in this case swimming) starts after
two weeks. I can get back on an exercise bike at around 6 weeks, and back on a road bike after 2+ months. The exact healing schedule isn't known, so some
hand-waving guess-work is used.
It's suggested that this surgery permanently weakens the back, which is probably true. However, given the pain and surgery experience, and the desire to
avoid repeating them, there's a good chance that likelihood of injury is actually lower than in the general population.
Anyway, about 10 days post-surgery I am able to sit and walk relatively pain-free. Naturally, I don't want to do either of these very much just yet,
but these results are very encouraging.
Part III
Ok, so after 3 weeks of laying in bed, paralyzed by fear of a rerupture,
I was still feeling a bit more pain than expected. So I started walking a couple miles a
day, and this reduced the pain a lot. But if you think about it, all that laying around attracting bed sores
is sort of like completely immobilizing a sprained ankle; yes, after back surgery it is a good idea, but
it also means you'll be stiff and sore. Anyway, the walking helped out, and now the whole neighborhood is
following my example and walking "the loop" (all the neighborhood dogs, that is).
At 4 weeks I tried swimming, but my lower back stiffened up a lot and I could exit the pool only by hobbling
up the stairs in the shallow end where babies float around in water wings. So I opted for light work on the
bowflex: non-compressive things like pull-downs and flies. And always high reps at light weight. An interesting
feature of the bowflex is there are two pulley attachment points for every exercise. So, for example, you can
do pulldowns one arm at a time. Same for flies. This, it turns out, helps work the obliques (side muscles of
abdominals), which means that one-armed exercises are actually good for your "core," which is all in the news
lately (just ask Oprah).
Now at 9 weeks I got back on the trainer for 15 minutes. Surprisingly, I didn't suck as bad as expected, possibly
because of all the walking. No position in the pedal stroke hurts more than any other position, and I actually
feel better at the end of the 15 minutes.
Overall my back pain is nearly gone except when I cough or sneeze. Then I get a good stab that lasts for a
couple minutes. Unless I raise my right knee, which seems to fix things. Anyway, the point to all this is
"don't hurt your back." Don't bend and twist while lifting a weight. Try to completely relax your lower back
as often as you can. Strengthen your core. And remember that "hurting your back" can be MUCH worse than just
pulling a muscle. It means that goo oozes out of a disc, compresses a nerve root, and displaces your spinal
column, and it hurts a lot. A couple hundred years ago this probably meant "the end." Now modern medicine
can fix things; however, it's still something to avoid worse than saddle sores from your knees to your neck.
Part IV
At 12 weeks post-surgery I put in 125 miles on the road in 4 days. I sort of kept up with the fast guys courtesy of
all the indoor training. I notice heavy bumps more than previously, but it's nothing you'd call painful.
I can reach my shoe straps w/o pain, and at the end of each ride my back feels better than at the beginning. Better still,
I can actually just stop and get off the bike, whereas for the prior 15 or more years I had to stop, sort of unkink things,
wait for a bunch of popping to happen, and then get off the bike. So in some ways, my back is better than ever before.
The only significant downside is when I cough or sneeze, which still hurts like hell, unless I raise my right knee.
Looking back, it is quite possible that I could have ridden on the road at 8 weeks. However, in this case, conservatism
is definitely the best route, and the extra 4 weeks waiting didn't kill me. So now it looks like I'm past the rough
and onto the green, so to speak.
Meanwhile, if you haven't seen the new MelonHead bicycle safety video, please check it out (near the top of home page).
Complete with finale singing by yours truly. It's been suggested that MelonHead's next safety video should be on
correct lifting posture, which may be a good idea. Another possibility is safe use of a log splitter, which may have
more visual appeal...
Part V
Ok, so I'm mostly healed at almost 6 months. I still can't run or jump, but maybe in another 6 months. I have an old
knee injury that took about 12 years to heal completely, so I remain optimistic. Now the goal is to keep the weight off
to minimize MY weight on my back. In this regard it is unfortunate that exercise adds muscle mass, because I'm already up 10
pounds from my minimum. It's also unfortunate that if I even LOOK at weights or a bowflex, my upper body instantly bulks
up. Obviously this does little for my bicycling. But so it goes...
P.J.
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Sneaky Pete's Winter Workout Rant!
Road Riding at Night!
Actually it's not as insane
as you might think.
For more information contact
peter@eibike.com
(Reduced version... hafta watch our bandwidth.)
New Section! Letters To President Bush
League of American Bicyclists - bike advocacy and political action.
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