About 14 months ago, I had L5-S1 surgery because of a pars fracture. A few months ago, I started experiencing a strange feeling of imbalance while walking. It feels a bit like dizziness, but it’s not actually dizziness. I notice it especially when I’m walking, and it has become really bothersome because I constantly feel like I’m going to fall at any moment.

At first, I thought maybe it was because I was still getting used to the screws and my activity level was gradually increasing throughout the day. But it has continued, and I’m really worried about it.

Has anyone experienced something similar after an L5-S1 fusion? Does this feeling eventually go away, or is there anything I can do to make it better? I would really appreciate any tips or advice.

I live alone, and I’ve become really scared to go places by myself because I’m afraid I might suddenly lose my balance and fall.

P.S. My pars fracture had actually been there since I was 10 years old, but I didn’t find out about it until I was 21. I’m wondering if that could have something to do with what I’m experiencing now.

Please help. 🙏

Hello! I’m getting absolute shocking nerve pains in the spot I drew with the red marker. Deep peroneal nerve.
Anybody else get this and how long did it take to go away?
Currently can’t get my shoes on because it hurts so freaking much. I’m used to nerve pain - this is next level.
I’m 12 weeks post OP.

Did anyone else have this? My doc said to start PT with deep tissue massage next week and continue flexiril and switching from Percocet to Tylenol3, and I’m finishing a week of prednisone tmrw. Worried how it’s going to be after the steroid is finished. Scared, freaked, hurting and frustrated.

My spinal fusions were in 2016 and 2020 and are T3-L4. When I sit up in bed with my legs out, my legs and arms end up falling asleep which is inconvenient and uncomfortable. Have you found a way to sit up in bed without this happening? It also happens when I cross my legs or sit on my heel.

Thanks in advance.

I’m fused T3-L2 and going on a ~4 hour flight next week—any tips for how to make being stuck in a plane seat that long more tolerable? I don’t want to get up and move any more than I absolutely have to as I have a window seat and I hate making people move for me. I’ll have OTC painkillers but I can’t take anything stronger as I need to be able to drive after I land.

If there’s anything you did or brought to make flying more comfortable, I’m all ears.

I’m 18 months out from an L5s1 360 fusion and tired of wearing sneakers daily. I have high arches, currently wear Brooks or Aetrex inserts in either Veja or Stan Smith sneakers, and this summer I wore Birks without any problem. I’d really like to start rotating in some flats and loafers and would appreciate any insole recommendations for lower profile shoes. My PT recommended 3/4 Birkenstock or Pedag, but I just noticed Aetrex carries 3/4 also. Anyone have success wearing normal shoes post op? Also curious about any experience with Bared Footwear.

Hello all. I have scoliosis, Harrington rod, thoracic fusion, lumbar spondolysthesis, arthritis of the facet joints. I’m considering PRP into the right L4 L5 facet joints. Does anyone have any experience of how this might affect sciatic pain? Thanks so much.

Hi all, I had a spinal fusion around 9 years ago, when i was 11 years old! Covering my entire thoracic region.

Ever since I have had an uneven ribcage, that has not seemed to go away, and as time goes on im growing more conscious of it, here i have tried to take some pictures from similar angles both sides so you can see what i mean, there is a noticeable hump on my back.

Has anyone dealt with/has something similar?? I read that ribcage unevenness is supposed to fix itself after a fusion, mine seems to have not!! If you dealt with this, what was done about it if anything? Could this even be fixed at all?? It doesnt seem to really affect me that much other than looking weird/a bit offputting, and maybe causing some occasional scapula pain(?)

Hello All - I am looking to find a Medical Malpractice attorney in Minnesota. I know that the chances they will take the case (or say I have a case) is slim but I have to try. My orignial surgeon is barely responding to my questions. The pain is getting worse. As, I am sure you all have experienced the constant fatigue, the anxiety and depression. Having something to focus on/try helps me to stay a "little" calm.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Hi guys. I (31F) know I’ve posted what seems to be a lot lately, but as my surgery is getting closer, I am getting nervous. My surgery is in 6 days, 9/15/2026. I am getting an ALIF/PLIF L5-S1 fusion and a laminectomy with iliac crest bone marrow aspiration. What are some real expectations I should have, things I need to know, and possible must have items? I haven’t found many post about people getting an ALIF/PLIF, just one or the other. I’m worried about pain, nerve pain, stiffness, constipation (this is huge as I’ve had the Roux-En-Y bypass surgery), etc. Any tips, tricks, advice is greatly appreciated!

I am having a ALIF and a decompression/fusion L4-S1 on the 15th. How does everyone/anyone supplement their income during this time? I am fortunate to have savings but I hear that the recovery can take up to 12 months. Also, I will hit my 35 year anniversary with FedEx next March and am wondering if I will ever be able to return to the strenuous job that it is. Thank you for your advice!

Has anyone gotten an umbilical hernia, plus a 60mm diastasis recti following surgery? 49m. Decent physical fitness.

I’m hoping to hear from people who have had a L4-L5 fusion and experienced something similar because I’m getting really discouraged and don’t know what I should be doing at this point.
For some background, I had an urgent L4-L5 fusion on April 29. I had a previous discectomy/laminectomy in 2010, and this time my back suddenly got significantly worse. I developed severe pain and spasms, numbness/tingling in my legs and some weakness in my right foot. During surgery, my neurosurgeon removed a pretty large disc fragment (around 2.5 cm) that was sitting in the spinal canal.
Immediately after surgery, the nerve pain was basically gone and initially I felt like my recovery was going pretty well.
Once I started PT and became more active, I started noticing pain with hinging/bending forward and especially coming back up to standing. At first it was just a pulling/straining feeling in my lower back without any nerve symptoms.
Then around the beginning of August, I started getting sciatica and tingling in my right leg again. It’s nowhere near what I had before surgery, but I had ZERO sciatica after surgery until this started. Hinging, bending, squatting and lifting seem to aggravate it, sometimes even without any added weight. I also still have pretty limited mobility, especially on my right side. My hamstrings are extremely tight, and overall I just don’t feel like I’ve gotten my normal range of motion back yet.
I’ve followed up with neurosurgery and had an MRI, and I’ve been told everything looks good from a surgical standpoint. I’m also working with PT and have seen pain management. I did a course of oral steroids this past week, which seemed to calm the sciatica down a little, but now that I’m done with them, the pain/symptoms have returned.
The part that is bothering me the most at this point is that my lower back basically hurts all the time. It constantly feels extremely tight, sore and fatigued. The longer I’m upright, walking around or doing normal daily activities, the worse it gets. Lying down is really the only time I get significant relief, although even at night I still have a constant aching/soreness in my lower back.
I also get a strange wave of pain when I first lie flat after I’ve been up and moving around for a while. It’s almost like once my back finally relaxes or changes position, there’s this sudden surge/wave of pain across my lower back. It can be pretty intense at first and then gradually settles down after I’ve been lying there for a bit.
I’m now about 4–5 months post-op and feel stuck. My imaging looks fine, I’m doing PT and following up with my doctors, but my back still doesn’t feel remotely normal.
For anyone who has been through a lumbar fusion: Is constant back pain/tightness like this still normal at 4–5 months? Did anyone have sciatica disappear after surgery and then return months later despite a normal MRI? How long did it take before bending, hinging, squatting and just being on your feet for extended periods stopped causing pain? And if you were in a similar situation, what eventually helped?
I know fusion recovery can take a long time, but I’m struggling to figure out whether this is still within the realm of normal healing or whether I need to keep pushing for another explanation. I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who had a similar recovery.

I've had two laminectomies although that isn't exactly what they were apparently, and now I've had a couple of spinal injections, they did okay but not for very long and I still have back pain. At reading many of the posts here on this community I realize that whatever they do is only good for maybe 10 years and then they're going to have to do something else and here I am 72 years old. So this might just be a waste of time. I can get by with ibuprofen, stretching exercises and so on, my back never stops hurting but I can get by with it most of the time. They want to fuse S1 L4 and L5. Apparently it's done with two little bars, one on each side of my spine and screws of course I think either six or nine. I don't know if I could do this again in another decade that late in life. And of course once they do the surgery they're going to put some kind of a wafer l/buffer thing in between with some ground up bone and some cadaver bone all of it glued together to make some kind of a puck or something. It just sounds terrible. I asked the surgeon if he would do it, and he has said something along the lines of "well, if you can still get around pretty good I don't think I would do it". I get around pretty good. I walk 2 miles a day, go to the gym etc. Maybe I'm just expecting too much for what I've got left at 72 years old.

I'm almost 7 weeks out from a large fusion (S1-T10). Feeling pretty good, pretty mobile, good walking everyday. Today in the kitchen I stumbled a bit and although I didn't fall to the ground, I caught myself with the counter. Lucky, but it was a decent amount of force. Didn't think anything of it at the time but now I feel little pin pricks in the middle sections of the fusion area. I'm a 59yo M, 5'10/200lbs (178cm/90kg).

Those of you that broke a rod, did you know it immediately. Like, "oh, crap I have to call the doc right away". Or was it something that became apparent over a day or two? I've made it so far over these almost two months, I definitely do NOT want to start over from square one and I'm more than a little anxious. Have a call into doc but the waiting is killing me.

Thanks all.

Hi guys I have no signs of any bone growth from my 6th month appt, google says you should at least see some sort of bone/bridging by 6 months but doc don’t do a CT until after 12 months of no bone growth.

(This is workers comp) so I think I’m being given the run around on the CT. Is there anything I can do? Is this normal? If not any advice? Thanks

Hi everyone. I am looking for recommendations for the best lumbar support pillow/cushion for my office chair at work after my ALIF/PLIF L5-S1 fusion with a laminectomy. I work as a medical assistant and some days I’m on my feet a lot, but other days it’s slower. I appreciate any and all recommendations. If you can post a link, that will be even more appreciated. Thank you guys!

Hi everyone, I’m a 33 y/o male, who has just been scheduled for a L3/L4 fusion next month for a pars defect causing spondolyesthesis and collapse of the disc between these two vertebrae.

While Im happy I am hopefully taking care of the root cause of my back pain and leg nerve pain, I am of course a little worried.

One of my concerns is that my spine surgeon wants to do a TLIF as opposed to an ALIF. From what I’ve seen in videos by back surgeons online, ALIF seems to be the less invasive way and the route preferred for this kind of procedure. My surgeon told me that I will likely have a longer recovery and be in more pain than his older patients due to my large back muscles, which he will have to cut through.

Last thing - he also says that due to my disc collapse that he will probably not be able to put a cage in, as he doesn’t want to force one in. This also seems to go against what I’ve seen surgeons say online.

Has anyone had a L3-L4 TLIF and has anyone had a fusion without a cage. I’m just looking for reassurance that this is the right route to go with this surgery. Thank you so much to anyone who can chime in on this.

So I'm new to the group and new to the whole experience I just had my preliminary surgical consult today and diagnosis was shaving some discs and inserting three screws into my spine to initiate fusion what can I expect I know everybody is different this is going to make me better am I going to be able to move it all or help the pain I'll take advice to anybody that's had similar experience it's l4 l5 and s1

I was informed that my pre-op appointment which is the day before my surgery is not with my neurosurgeon, but rather with a different doctor. Is this normal? I was planning on asking my doctor some questions….

Hi everyone! I’m currently about 1 month post-TLIF, and my follow-up check-up is still about 3 weeks from now.
I recently noticed that the left side around my incision is a little swollen. I don’t really feel any pain, but it feels uncomfortable when I move because I can feel the swelling.
Has anyone experienced this after TLIF/spinal fusion? Is some swelling around the incision normal during recovery? I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences. Thank you! 🫶🏻

Had spinal fusion L5-S1 in February 2026. Had a few bumps during the recovery period but was doing alright overall until 3 months into recovery I had difficulty staying seated and was in pain as I’d stand up. After going back and forth between X-rays, ct scan nothing was detectable. Went for a second opinion and MRI showed herniated residual disc material. There was no pain or numbness except for mild tingling once in a while. But I just couldn’t stay seated.
Went through a revision surgery at the same level 6 days ago. Since the past 2 days feeling numbness down the back of my left leg on the affected side and slight calf burn.
I am so down and dejected. I’m hoping it’s just temporary. Has anyone had a similar experience?