r/Spondylolisthesis

For those who have had surgery, how much did your height change?

My spondy happened in childhood when I was still growing so I don’t know what my unbroken height would have been.

Trying to focus on silver linings here 🥴

I recently joined the Wings for Life World Run, where 100% the entry fees goes to helping find a cure for spinal cord injuries. Since having been diagnosed last month (21 M, Grade 1 spondylolisthesis L5-S1), I knew my registration is going to a good cause. I have never seen the spine as that important until only after my diagnosis.

Obviously, I didn't attempt to run at all because my doctor hasn't cleared me to do any physical activity aside from walking, I only walked the whole time. As I was watching people run past me, I couldn't help but cry and wipe my tears away so that no one would see me crying. It was so heartbreaking seeing everyone run while I just walk. I know I could have it worse like be paralyzed but running used to be my life. If I needed to clear my head, I would run. Running is what helped me get over my past relationship and several other problems in life. Everything that happened to me made me improve my running. My fastest 5k pace was 4:39min/km and I am also able to run a 10k under an hour. My goal this year was to run a half marathon and eventually a marathon. I wanted to be avid runner until I became old, hopefully running alongside my future family—but life has weird ways of crushing my dreams.

Before writing this, I've already read about running on this subreddit and majority said they had to stop because it's a high impact activity. I don't want to stop running, but I'm afraid that if I continue to do so then I'll expedite the progression of my spondy. I don't want run for one time and be dreading the pain for days afterwards. I also don't want to suddenly just lose sensation in my legs mid run and fall again. All that scares me and I feel so hopeless right now. I'm planning to sell my running shoes as soon as possible because I know I won't be getting back into that. Ideally, I'd want to get a pars repair, but I can't afford it as of now since I'm only a junior in college—and to make it worse, I live in a third world country so the healthcare here is subpar.

How I wish I could turn back time and prevent my injury from ever happening in the first place. I am still cycling through the stages of grief until now. I hate to admit it but I get pissed looking at people who don't make the most of their body like they're all just living sedentary lifestyles. What I would give to regain what I lost and have a perfectly healthy spine...

Where were you physically before PT and where are you after?

Anyone have fusion in there 20s? How are you doing and how long ago was surgery?

Hoping for some positive stories 🥺

Does anyone feel good running , squatting body weight or doing somewhat vigorous exercise? How did you get to that point?

Ty

I just reas it isn't, I want to make sure from other patients coz coaches online say stupid things all the time.

I think I might have played my last 18 holes today and it’s honestly a very sad feeling. I go in to see my ortho on Tuesday, who I haven’t seen in 3 years and pretty sure he’s not going to have good news for me. From what I gathered, golfing isn’t great on your back, especially if you have problems. But golfing is about the only “physical” activity I can do due to heart stuff that limits my cardio ability, I already gave up the gym 6 years ago because of it and feel like I’m about to lose the only hobby I have left☹️ anyone here golf before your diagnosis and/or progression of your back problems and still able to golf? Really would like to hear some positive experiences but also being realistic with my expectations here.

Hi everyone,

I’m a 23 year old female from India and I’m feeling extremely scared and overwhelmed right now.

Around 1.5 months ago I developed severe lower back pain and since then I’ve mostly been on bed rest. After MRI + X-rays and consultations at multiple hospitals (ISIC Delhi, Max Healthcare, Medanta etc.), almost all spine surgeons are recommending surgery.

My diagnosis includes:

L4-L5 spondylolisthesis (Grade 1)

pars fracture/lysis type issue

disc degeneration/bulge

nerve narrowing

I also get:

leg pain/numbness sometimes

pain while sitting

back instability feeling

difficulty staying in one position

Doctors are saying conservative treatment may not be enough now because the “gap/slip” has increased and surgery is needed for stabilization. They told me screws/rods/stitches may be involved.

I’m honestly terrified because:

I’m only 23

scared of spine surgery and stitches

scared about future mobility and normal life

scared whether I’m rushing into surgery

I’ve already done around 1.5 months of bed rest and still symptoms persist.

I’ll attach my MRI/X-ray reports in comments.

I really want honest advice from people who:

had similar L4-L5 surgery

avoided surgery successfully

recovered well after fusion/stabilization surgery

know good conservative spine specialists anywhere in India

Questions:

How painful was recovery?

Were you able to walk normally again?

Any regrets after surgery?

Did anyone improve without surgery in a similar condition?

How do you mentally prepare for this?

I’m mentally exhausted and crying almost every day because of fear. Any real experiences or advice would mean a lot. Thank you.

Hello! I’ve been working on “recovering” or minimizing symptoms for 5 months from grade 1 spondy with a disc bulge. Slowly, but surely I am getting better with ESI (3 months ago) - consistent exercise daily & focusing on anti inflammatory diet. Went from bed ridden 9/10 pain to taking care of my two toddlers again! While my quality of life is getting better monthly I’m still in pain 5/10. id like to hear your stories? Anyone living close to normal with this condition? Pain free? Any positive feedback would be appreciated. Do things get better pain wise? Is there a base line? I’m new to this so any tips are welcome!

Spondy with pars fracture l5-s1 , degenerative discs 4,5 and now I suffer from a vertebra that moved in my middle back but didn't go to check coz nothing will be done.. i do pt on my own. My spondy is 3 year old now..

When sitting either tilted or not there is always this pain in the back and on sides. I figured on the sides were muscles, but the back I couldn't decide, either muscles, disc tissues or bones.. anyways I figured i would just flatten both muscles with my hands and that literally eased sitting.. the problem is all muscles are tight but when I stretching them it made things worse, the vertebra in the middle slipped even more and cozed more problems, then I had to search if stretching core muscles was ok till I saw a doctor on tiktok saying cobra pose does make things worse and more slippage for the spondy. I stopped stretching all together. Just on my back i would do lumbar stretches and thats all..

Do you guys have similar experience just flattening the muscles everytime you sit down?

Hey everyone, I’m just trying to see if anyone here has gone through something similar because I’m having a really hard time right now. I just got my MRI back and it shows issues at L4-L5 and L5-S1. They said I have disc bulges at both levels, grade 1 anterolisthesis, and spondylolysis at L5. From what I understand it’s basically instability in my spine plus some nerve irritation. The pain has been pretty bad lately. At times it’s like a 9/10. It doesn’t really go away, it just kind of sits there and flares up worse with movement. I get constant lower back pain and also tingling/numbness down my legs and into my feet sometimes. I’ve tried ibuprofen, muscle relaxers, ice, heat, different positions… nothing really seems to make a difference right now. I work a physical job with a lot of lifting and bending and I’ve had to stop working because of this. I’m in PT right now but it’s hard to stay positive when the pain is this constant. Just trying to hear from people who have been through it: Has anyone had similar MRI results? Did it get better without surgery? How long did it take before you noticed improvement? What actually helped you? I’m just trying to figure out what to expect because right now it feels like this isn’t going to go away. Appreciate any input.

I have had neck symptoms on and off for years. Always tightness , pain, have “ knots” I my shoulders back and sides of neck. Then about 10 years ago I stared getting a cramp under my jaw like a charlie horse, did PT for it and it would come and go. Fast forward 4 years ago bad car accident. Actually ejected from car seat belt , hit head on roof and broke off headrest from impact. Concussion, smashed legs. My neck was pretty bad but back was far worse. Landed on back on console , shifted lumbar out. It got scary and back unstable, leg weakness and numbness and awful back pain.
Had a lumbar fusion 2 years ago doing well now.
Now about 3 months ago I started getting tingling on side of neck and into face. Comes and goes - worst bending or at night when I lay down to sleep.
This is side I get the charlie horse type cramp under my chin. Also have a cramp in left shoulder blade for a year and possibly realized it’s related. ( I do some stretching for that cramp)

The neck pain was there after the accident but I had bigger issues previously with a lot of injuries. I didn’t really pay it much attention but now this tingling started.

My neck is tight and hurts. I assumed this cramping is hitting a nerve to cause tingling but since it’s been going on a few months , I asked my dr to check it out. X-ray ordered. Results below seems worse than I thought. 53f. I’m going to start PT this week but I’m a bit freaked out my back and neck are so bad. I’m going to do PT and hope it helps. I remember when I did PT a long time back when I started this cramp under chin the guy said it was posture. So I hope it will help. Anything else help anyone with cervical spondy to stabilize it? Could you avoid fusion? Thanks

CERVICAL SPINE INDICATION: Cervicalgia. COMPARISON: None. VIEWS: XR SPINE CERVICAL COMPLETE 4 OR 5 VW NON INJURY Images: 7 FINDINGS: No fracture. Preserved cervical lordosis with degenerative retrolisthesis C3-4 and C4-5 with grade 1 anterolisthesis C5-6. Disc height loss C3-4 through C6-7 with multilevel facet arthropathy and uncovertebral joint hypertrophy. Neural foramen are not well profiled due to obliquity with significant neural foraminal narrowing bilaterally at C5-6 and C6-7. The prevertebral soft tissues are within normal limits. The lung apices are clear.

im a 23 year old male with spondylolisthesis grade 1 with a dehydrated disc and sacrilization since birth. I am considering getting fusion for L4-L5 as it has been 10 months of PT already with little change. Before this I was an extremely active person with lifting and sports as part of my daily routine. My concern is whether I will be able to get back to the gym and football without any pain? Is the pain 100% gone after fusion and rehab? is sitting or standing too long still an issue?

I have anterior pelvic tilt and I had lateral pelvic tilt but that was corrected by my chiropractor so my pelvis is now aligned at least laterally. But I’ve had anterior pelvic tilt for forever. I’m realizing now that this could have directly contributed to the problems I have in my low back.

I have retrolisthesis at L2-L3 and L3-L4, with mild-to-moderate disc height loss at L5-S1. My doctor diagnosed me with lumbar spondylosis. I started feeling pain after going on long bike rides after a year or so of inactivity. But it also feels like my pain is in my SI joints, not just my spine. However, my xray showed normal SI joints. Waiting for MRI.

Anyone else have anterior pelvic tilt?