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Showing posts from April, 2011

Volleyball, Soccer, 4-Wheelers, Parties and a Very Angry Orthopedic Surgeon

So I went back to Honduras for Easter break. I invited a whole bunch of friends over to the beach and we all had a blast. Among the activities I tried: -Volleball: I played twice without a single hiccup. Jumping, spiking, falling, sweating.. it felt great. -Soccer: I played beach soccer for a good hour, running, sprinting, and falling.. No hiccups either. -4-Wheelers: I rode bikes on the beach, very bumpy, no hiccups. -Parties: non-stop for a whole week. Our dear friend and orthopedic surgeon came to visit us as well. He wasn't happy. Even though he has no experience with ADR's, his concerns with it have always been the risk that the disc might prolapse into the bone. He says the bone matter never regains its original strength and that I should think LONG-TERM about the durability of the attachment and bone quality. I immediately sat up straight and realized that i'd been overdoing myself despite me being able to do so. I'm almost 6 months post-op living the life

So far, my recommendations for anyone with back problems..

-Get a good diagnosis from a respected TOP orthopedic surgeon in the US, preferably someone that does ADR's.. don't do local doctors that only do fusions and discectomies. -Try out physical therapy for 6 months, especially traction and inversion tables. I wouldn't recommend the stem cell route just yet, not until mesoblast has some good preliminary results. If you can get in on the trial, then great! Avoid regenexx for now, I had 0 results and the troubles I went through  flying 5 times to denver weren't worth the hassle or money. Once you have an annular tear, it's almost impossible for it to repair itself. It might help a degenerative disc but you have to remember that the degenerative disc space has very poor conditions for stem cell growth. -Avoid any lifting during these 6 months, do a lot of walking and buy a heating pad for your lower back and use it A LOT to promote blood flow in the area. -If physical therapy fails, go straight to ADR, but only the M6

TIP: How to share test results with doctors abroad (or any other document with anyone).

So you have an MRI scan, X-rays, or pictures in a CD. You want to send them to your doctor but your email only handles small files and your doctors inbox might not even receive it. Instead, use the 'cloud'. Set up an account with  Sugarsync , install the software on your computer, and upload the files to the cloud. Right click on the file you uploaded and select 'Get public link'. This will copy a URL and you can now paste it in your email. Tell your doctor to download the file from that URL. This is how I sent my MRI scans over to Mr. Boeree. This would also work if you want to share a movie or a large amount of files with anyone else that's far away.