If you have traditional herniated disc surgery, your procedure will take place in a hospital, and you will have to stay there for several days afterwards. While the exact length of the stay will depend on how well you are healing, patients can expect to remain in the hospital for 4-5 days.
The recovery time after laser herniated disc surgery is much shorter. Patients generally return home the day of the surgery. In about a week, most patients are able to return to work; those with very physical jobs will need to wait until they have fully recovered, however.
Most patients may begin moving around within a few hours of surgery, and go home on the same day or the next following their lumbar herniated disc surgery.
You can expect your back to feel stiff or sore after surgery. This should improve in the weeks after surgery. You may have relief from your symptoms right away, or you may get better over days or weeks. In the weeks after your surgery, it may be hard to sit or stand in one position for very long.
In addition, you should make sure not to schedule the surgery around any major deadlines. If you have a physically strenuous job, you won't be able to return to work so quickly. You need to fully heal before returning to exercise or a physically strenuous job, usually a minimum of 4 to 6 weeks.
Herniated disk surgery is often very effective, and it works faster than other treatments. You should start to see an improvement in symptoms like pain, weakness, and numbness within a few weeks after surgery. Physical therapy or rehab can help you recover quicker. You can go to a rehab center, or do exercises at home.
Is a microdiscectomy painful? Following surgery, most patients do well with a small amount of non-opioid pain medication and a drug that relaxes the muscles. While there is some discomfort associated with the surgical incision, many patients experience rapid relief of the pain caused by the herniated disc.
There is a slight risk of damaging the spine or nerves. All surgery has some risks, including bleeding, infection, risks from anesthesia, and death. There is a chance that the surgery won't relieve your symptoms. And even if you get better with surgery, there is a chance you may get new symptoms in the future.
Surgeons usually perform diskectomy using general anesthesia, so you're not awake during the procedure. Ideally, just the piece of disk that's compressing the nerve is removed. However, small amounts of spinal bone and ligament might need to be removed to get to the herniated disk.
A Laminotomy and discectomy is the standard surgical procedure for treatment of a lumbar herniated disc. The surgeon removes a small portion of the bone to gain access to the spinal canal (laminotomy) and then removes the portion of herniated disc (discectomy). In certain cases, spinal fusion may be required.
Rest. Most often 1-2 days of strict bed rest will calm severe back pain. Bed rest should not exceed 48 hours. Once you are back into your daily routine, you should take frequent rest breaks throughout the day- but avoid sitting for long periods of time.
The right way to sleep after back surgery
The best position to sleep in after spine surgery is lying flat on your back, placing a pillow below your knees or lying sideways with a pillow between your bent knees.
A large herniated disc is considered to be over 3mm. Its size can make the disc slip out of place and start pressing on nearby nerves. Over time, this can cause muscle weakness and nerve damage.
The pain from a herniated disc usually is worse when you are active and gets better when you are resting. Coughing, sneezing, sitting, driving, and bending forward may make the pain worse. The pain gets worse when you make these movements because there is more pressure on the nerve.
The good news is that in most cases — 90% of the time — pain caused by a herniated disc will go away on its own within six months. Initially, your doctor will likely recommend that you take an over-the-counter pain reliever and limit activities that cause pain or discomfort.
It takes place in an outpatient setting, and patients do not need to undergo general anesthesia. Patients can return home the same day with their symptoms relieved.
Most importantly, an L4-L5 disc bulge can lead to prolonged pain and other, more serious conditions like spondylolisthesis if you delay treatment. Spondylolisthesis is a condition in which a vertebra shifts or slips, and can cause significant pain that may require surgery to fix.
The average amount of time it takes for a herniated disk to heal is four to six weeks, but it can get better within a few days depending on how severe the herniation was and where it occurred. The biggest factor in healing a herniated disk is time, because most often it will resolve on its own.
Some common symptoms of a herniated or slipped disc include: Pain that occurs on one side of the body. Sharp pain in one part of the leg, hip, or buttocks and numbness in other parts. You may also feel pain or numbness on the back of the calf or sole of the foot.
While wiping, bend from the knees rather than at the hips. A long- handled device may help to reach all areas. 4. The use of pre-moistened, flushable wipes is strongly recommended.
You should wait 1–3 days before traveling by airplane or public transportation, and 2–3 days before taking a prolonged automobile trip with others.
A herniated disc can cause pain while you sleep for a few reasons. First, when you lie down, the pressure on your discs increases. It can cause the herniated disc to bulge more and pressure your nerves. Second, lying down flat on your back may not be the best position for a herniated disc.
Sit with the Right Posture
It is proper to sit up straight without slouching. When you slump, you put extra pressure on the discs in the spine and can aggravate your herniated disc. Additionally, you want to ensure your knees are level with your hips. Your hips should be slightly above your knees if you sit at a desk.
Sleeping On Your Back
When it comes to sleep, the best way to reduce pain and your risk of developing a post-procedural complication is to sleep on your back with a pillow placed under your knees. This provides the cervical and thoracic spine with much-needed support, which may ease your post-surgery pain.