Update

Howdy from the Big Apple!

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I’m at 3.5 years out of surgery and doing well (knock on wood).  New York has been incredible so far and we’ve been here since late August, 2014.

I’m still keeping up to date on ADR and found two links I wanted to include in my blog:

1) You can find the abstract here:

INTRODUCTION:
Cervical artificial discs (CADs) represent an established surgical option in selected patients with cervical spinal disc degeneration. Though CADs have been available for many years, there is a lack of information concerning long-term safety, durability and implant-related failure rates.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
The authors describe the failure of a M6-C CAD (Spinal Kinetics, Sunnyvale, CA, USA).
RESULTS:
Eight years after implantation of a CAD of the M6 type, a 39-year-old female presented with new clinical signs of cervical myelopathy. Radiologically, medullar compression due to posterior core herniation was the suspected cause. The damaged CAD was removed and the segment fused. During revision surgery, rupture of the posterior structures could be detected. Possible mechanisms leading to implant failure are discussed.
CONCLUSION:
As there is no standard regarding clinical and radiological follow-up for patients with CADs, radiological long-term follow-up investigations seem to be justified for exclusion of implant failure.

This is the first mention of an M6 failure that I’ve found in a legitimate, peer reviewed journal.  I’ll be keeping an eye out for more.

2) Intervertebral disc prolapse – A neat slideshare on the spine and disc injury.  Yoga gets another nod in here! 😉

I’m still doing yoga a couple times a week, core work twice a week, walking an average of 1.5 hours a day just in my NYC commute with kid pickups and drop-offs (more when I walk the dog) and playing hockey once a week.  Still holding roughly @ 172 lbs and just over 6′ tall (185cm).

Also, we scored a new bed from Casper Sleep and it’s been so nice for my back.  I would highly recommend one for anyone else with back pain.

2 thoughts on “Update

  1. Hi Brett,
    I am very close to finalize my ADR surgery in Germany (L4/L5, L5/S1) and I would love to talk with you about some aspects of post-op recovery if you could.
    Thanks,
    Daniel

    • For sure… drop me an email!

      My address is under the about section. Sorry, I don’t check the blog often to approve the comments!

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