Woodworking after spinal surgery (fusion)?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

John,

In our 40's and 50's my wife and I skied a lot, as in season passes, on the slopes every Saturday and Sunday, when my work schedule would allow which was a majority of the weekends and holidays. Our ski instructor was a USFS fire dispatcher who took comp time instead of O/T pay and collected on it during the ski season typically Dec.-Apr. Chuck, one summer, paragliding with an emergency room physician had his parachute collapse dropping him an estimated 40' landing on his ass. He broke, I forget, how many bones in his spine, had surgery, two rods, multiple fusions, and screws for 12 months before they took the rods out. He was back skiing in his usual enviable form the next year. Several years later, he retired, moved to a skiing area in Montana and skis today as far as I know.

I broke my back, a compression fracture of L2, in 2001. My surgeon elected to try to see if I would heal without surgery. I am an estimated 8mm shorter than prior to the accident. I wore a custom back brace for 4 months, returning to work after 10 weeks off. I slept on the floor on a 3" foam pad for 14 months because sleeping in a bed gave me severe back pain. Now I sleep in bed on a hard mattress, I have to sleep on one side or the other. The only pain I suffer is a slight ache when storm fronts are coming through the area. I suspect arthritis has set into that portion of my back. I quit skiing the year after breaking my back only because I realized how time consuming and expensive it had become.

In my mid70's now, I am able to do whatever I want, desire or have the energy to do. I do watch twisting while bent over as I have had a disc herniate while remove clothes from the drier. It went back in place a few days later. During that period, I was in pain.

In short, these types of things are very individual.

A word of advice, select a surgeon who has a lot of experience and ask for recommendations from your primary care provider.

Good luck!

[Eric Arnsdorff]

This is a timely discussion for me as well. I'm 52 and I'm one of those people who do Crossfit as a hobby (I'm part owner of a CF gym). I have been struggling with what I thought was a shoulder issue but turns out it is an issue with C5/C6 in my neck (zero neck pain but plenty of other pains). I will have a steroid injection in a few weeks. I'm crossing my fingers this will last for long periods. But I could be in a similar situation soon if not and these thoughts are going through my head about how to both stay in shape and stay in the shop.

I will add that I have a friend that is extremely athletic and had to have cervical fusion in her early 40s. She surfs, mountain bikes and everything in between. Not to mention runs like a jack rabbit being chased. I'm banking on it not being a major long term issue.

I'll also add my wife has beaten stage 4 cancer (that's quite a story) and I find it hard to complain too much to her knowing what she went through (ok I still do some). There are definitely worse things.