10 Ways to Prepare for Spinal Fusion Surgery Recovery
Key takeaways:
Before Rick Phillips had spinal fusion surgery, he and his wife became avid walkers.
He prepared his body and his mind for surgery and swapped sides of the bed with his wife so he would have a better view of the TV.
Rick says it's important to give yourself time to heal and to find humor as you recover from a major operation.
Growing up, Lawrence “Rick” Phillips often had problems with his Achilles tendon. He dealt with strains and pains for seemingly no reason. In his 50s, he went to his physician complaining of hip pain and was told, “It’s not your hip. It’s your back.”
“I was pointing right to [my hip] and saying, ‘This doesn’t look like my back,’” recalls Rick, 66, a retiree who lives outside Indianapolis.
Rick says his symptoms were most likely caused by ankylosing spondylitis (AS), an autoimmune condition that causes pain in the back and other joints. (AS is also called spondyloarthritis.) It can cause a forward curvature of the upper back called kyphosis. Long-term, AS can also cause calcium deposits around the vertebrae disks, which eventually compress the nerves, causing pain and limiting movement.
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More than 3.2 million American adults have a form of spondyloarthritis, according to the Spondylitis Association of America (SAA). That’s more than all American cases of multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis combined, the SAA says. Treatments include medication, exercise, physical therapy — and, in severe cases, surgery.
Some who never address severe forms end up living eternally bent over, usually at the waist, walking with their upper body almost parallel to the ground.
Many people with Rick’s level of kyphosis have corrective surgery.
Surgery options
The Achilles pain Rick felt growing up came from his back bending forward, thus straining the tendon. But Rick didn’t get his diagnosis until he was in his late 50s. Over time, as his spine curved, it became difficult for him to hold his head straight. That, combined with the squeezed nerves in his back, meant he was in constant pain.
There were two surgeries that could help: one to remove the calcification and another that would fuse the vertebrae to keep them upright. But while the first surgery was possible, more than one consulting surgeon told him the second was not.
Rick says a surgeon mentioned the difficulty of spinal fusion in adults. The back and spinal cord are already accustomed to leaning forward. So even after surgery, the body may still tend to lean forward, affecting the outcome.
But one surgeon was willing to operate in hopes of stopping the curvature from getting worse. Rick had his first spinal fusion surgery in 2019, a procedure that took more than 4 hours. The treated area stretched from the base of his neck to his lower back and buttocks. The surgeon places rods at the top and bottom of the area, leaving the middle of his back unfused.
After surgery, Rick was able to stand straighter. But in 2023, he needed a second surgery when hardware used in the first one “gave out,” he says.
Today, Rick says, “It’s not perfect, and I’m still slumped forward, and that’s the way it’s going to be for the rest of my life. But hopefully, we have stopped [the deterioration] to the point that I won’t be parallel to the ground.”
Tips for recovery
With two spinal surgeries under his belt, Rick has these recommendations for people considering it.
1. Prepare your body for surgery
Four years before his first surgery, Rick became more conscious of his weight and had lost 160 lbs before the operation.
Rick and his wife became dedicated walkers. “We’d do a mile [to] a mile and half each day, rain or shine and winter or summer,” he says.
Rick uses walking poles, which help with balance and improve posture.
2. Get ready for recovery
After years of sleeping on the same sides of their bed, Rick and his wife switched during his recovery so he could be closer to the TV. He also made sure he had access to programs he’d enjoy, such as those on Netflix.
Another big help: Grab rails around the toilet and a seat in the shower, two home changes Rick had done years earlier when recovering from a hip replacement. After spinal fusion surgery, “I would sit and just run water on myself. That was a big help,” Rick says. He also recommends having a long-handled scrub brush for washing and a heating pad for resting.
3. Forge strong relationships with your care team
Rick says one nurse connected him with a home healthcare company whose assistance proved critical to his recovery. That same nurse also made herself available to answer questions at any time and sped up interactions between Rick and his physician. “We’d send her a picture of my incision, and she’d show it to the doctor and he’d say, “You're looking OK’ or ‘Not looking OK.’”
4. Understand that healing takes time
“It’s important to remember that you’re in recovery mode. You can’t think, ‘Oh, I’m going to have this surgery, and a week after I’ll be back [to] 100%,’” he says. “Understand you’re going to sleep a lot, not from [medications] but your body recovering from the shock.”
5. Accept that you can’t do it on your own
When asked what he recommended others do to prepare for spinal fusion surgery recovery, Rick jokingly replied, “I would suggest you have my wife.” Or, if not Rick’s wife, another reliable person or persons.
“For the period you’re down, you’re down, and you have to find somebody to take care of you,” Rick says. “If I’d been here by myself, I would have had to go to a rehab center.”
6. Find ways to stay mentally engaged
Rick says buying a lightweight computer tablet before his surgeries was critical to his recovery. With the pandemic in full swing, he couldn’t have regular visitors or attend church or other civic meetings.
Instead, “I started scheduling as many video meetings as I could. As long as I could have a reason to have a Zoom meeting, I would do it,” Rick says. “It was a way to stay engaged with the outside world.”
Pandemic adaptations, including moving church services and civic gatherings online, also kept him in the loop.
7. Give yourself permission to heal
Rick let his brain rest by watching long-running television series, including “Boston Legal” and “House.” “I got hooked on things that had long-running characters,” he says. “My advice is to catch something funny. ‘Seinfeld’ is a great one to watch from beginning to end.”
8. Look for meaning
Rich became depressed in 2008 after retiring from his job as finance manager for a public school system with 6,000 students. So he went back to school. In 2012, he graduated from Nova Southeastern University with a Doctor of Education (EdD) “I had to do something,” he says. “I couldn’t allow myself to sit and vegetate.”
In a similar vein, during his spinal fusion surgery recuperation, Rick began deeper religious studies, with the goal of becoming a commission minister for his church. He now works in the chronic disease community, helping others who are searching for the “Why me?” behind their conditions.
“Whatever your belief system, a higher power can make a big difference for you,” he says. “When you believe in a higher power, you can have success because you see life is greater than just you.”
9. Consider advocating for and educating others
Rick writes articles about his AS as well as his other health conditions, including Type 1 diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. They’re published either on condition-related websites or his own page. (One notable one is titled “Pickles are important.”) Rick has also worked with the FDA and been a consultant for pharmaceutical companies.
10. Keep laughing
Humor is critical to life and recovery. “What gets me through life is laughing at myself … Chronic disease is like a bully. It’s mean, it’s ugly, and the best way I know how to deal with a bully is to laugh at it,” he says. “If I see a doctor that has no sense of humor, I don't see him again. I find a different doctor. Because if you’re not laughing with me, we’re not going to get along.”
Frequently asked questions
It depends on many factors, including the type of spinal surgery, whether or not you have minimally invasive surgery, how much of your spine is involved, and your overall health. Most people need a period of bed rest after surgery. Full recovery, which requires physical therapy, can take several months to a year. But this will vary from person to person.
It depends on the type of spine surgery and your overall health. You may need to avoid certain movements while your bones and grafts heal. You may also need to limit your overall activity. If you're taking opioid-based pain medications, make sure to drink enough fluids to stay hydrated and avoid constipation.
There’s no way to speed up the healing process after spinal fusion surgery. Not allowing enough healing time or trying to rush back to normal activities could result in future problems.
The bottom line
Give your spine the time it needs to fully recover. Be active in your healing by following doctors’ recommendations around diet, physical therapy, and sleep.
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