Jumping after back surgery?

[Eagleeye 0]

This is directed to those of you who have had a spinal fusion or similar surgery (Lumbar to be specific). How much time had passed before you made a jump after having surgery? How did it go, feel?
For those of you who had more serious surgeries in the spine, please chime in as well.

Thank you

*Info given will not be taken as advice!

[gunpaq 1]

16 years since surgery for me . Made sure that I was fully restored or as much as a once broken body can be restored. Rule of thumb is to double the time the doctor says you can go back to every day activities and in the meantime some serious prescribed PT. Remember its your spine, you can deal with the pain but not paralysis. Use a docile soft opening canopy, be conservative, and stay in the sky. Good luck and blue skies. :)

www.geronimoskydiving.com

[TheBachelor 4]

I had 2 fusions in the c-spine. 6 weeks after the surgery, my doctor told me I could go back to all activities other than skydiving. He made me wait 6 months for skydiving. That was 6 years ago.

There are battered women? I've been eating 'em plain all of these years...

[Andy9o8 0]

Individual anecdotes from people who are not trained medical professionals (especially total strangers online) are of very limited value. In fact, they can be misleading, because they might represent exceptions to generally-accepted medical knowledge, due to case-specific variables you might not recognize and/or cannot assess with requisite expertise. By contrast, even a freshly-minted medical professional is trained with the cumulative knowledge of thousands of case histories.

Sorry to be a poop, but there you have it.

[philly51 0]

4 screws and 2 steel bars L3-L5 (L4 fractured). Received medical clearance 4 months later (after vigorous PT). I stopped on my way home from the doctor and did a low pass 4500" with a non terminal opening.

Life's journey is not to arrive at the grave safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, Shouting "...holy shit...what a ride!"

[skydivingchad 0]

I had a burst fracture of L1. T12, L1and L2 are now titanium reinforced. I didn't jump for 13 months on my doctors orders. I also stopped taking tandems and upsized my canopy. Listen to what your doctor says, they are the only ones who can really give you a good answer.

Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug.
Pelt Head #3

[shveddy 0]

I have a shattered L2, a titanium and bone-goo fusion from T12 down to L4 with a cage replacing the L2, and a respectable (but thankfully ever-decreasing) amount of paralysis (three and a half months stuck in a wheelchair). I did a hop and pop three days shy of the year anniversary, but I only started skydiving again in earnest about 19 months after the accident (up to six jumps in a day, packing them all myself).

Once your fusion gets to a certain level of severity, any surgeon with a malpractice insurance bill will tell you not to jump - and you probably shouldn't - but if you're priorities are such that you are willing to take the risks, here are the factors involved.

1. If you're young and healthy and if Titanium is involved, the area that has been fused might technically be tougher than it was before the injury.

2. Unfortunately #1 means that if something does go wrong, it's extra bad for the following reasons

a. Your spine absorbs shock by distributing it across 24 vertebrae. You now have 24-n vertebrae, so the each remaining vertebrae is going to receive more of the shock, meaning that they are more likely to break (particularly the vertebrae directly above and below the fusion).

b. The fused area is now acting like a fairly long lever and it can multiply the force applied to the vertebrae and intervertebral body immediately above and below by a factor of however many vertebrae you have fused, again, meaning that they are more likely to break.

c. If you have titanium and the impact is such that it breaks it loose, then your medical implant is now a very expensive titanium chisel.

3. Even if nothing catastrophic happens, factors 2a, 2b and 2c still apply to the every day wear and tear on your body, which means that you will drastically increase the rate at which you wear down the vertebrae directly above and below your fusion and of course you are more likely to throw your back out of whack and be in a lot of pain later in life.

All of this can be mitigated somewhat (but not entirely) with yoga, a decision to NOT swoop, stretching, exercise, core strengthening, a good diet, good genetics, luck and lots of milk.

Otherwise, your biggest problem will be packing. I haven't had any weird slammers from strange angles yet and it definitely doesn't hurt to have a soft opening parachute, but I've gone three seconds slider down a few times and the pack job afterwards was much more painful.

Your results may vary - good luck!

[Eagleeye 0]

Thank you for all of your replies.