Spinal stabilization system helps UK patient*
“My life has just changed.”
Patient’s testimony:
“In 1995 I started having problems with my back. I had been in the Royal Marines for 12 years and began to have lots of back pain, no leg pain just back. At the onset it would be a couple of weeks of bad back pain at a time. Finally in 1997 I was taken in as an emergency and was given a discectomy. For a while everything was fine but not even 80%. So I left the Marines in 2000 as I felt I could not do the job I had been trained to do and enjoyed so much.
“In 2001 my back went again and I had another discectomy as an emergency.
It was the same kind of problem: all back pain, no leg pain.
“Finally in 2004 my back popped again, this was the third time. I could have spinal fusion(1), but I was put on the list for a spinal stabilization system. I decided to give it a go. Today it’s fine. It has worked for me. I am able to go to the gym. I can go for walks. I can play with my kids. I can do the gardening and I have been able to return to work. I do get pain if I overdo it, but I can lead a very normal life. I have even been running, but that is probably not a wise thing to do. The biggest thing I have to remember is that this is not a cure but merely a solution for my pain and instability(2). I will always have a bad back and have to tailor my life as such even though this implant has given me a new lease of life.
“I had what they call three level degeneration in my spine. The middle level was treated with a floating stabilization system. If I had had rigid fusion system they say that this could have developed further deterioration in the adjacent [contiguous] parts of the spine. With fusion assembly I was told that I would not have had the flexibility in the spine that I have now. My recovery was quicker also: I was able to leave hospital after 3 days.
“My life has just changed. I have no instability(2) problems and there are no inherent risks in adjacent discs [contiguous segments].”
*For security and personal reasons patient requested that his name be withheld
1 Rigid assembly based on screws and rods.
2 Definition of instability: increased motion between vertebra resulting from an injury or spinal degeneration. Instability causes pain.
Quick link to Patient/Caregiver Home: www.europe-zimmerspine.com
