Gosh, Nick is now 5 months post-op. It sounds like a long time but it doesn't feel like a long time. This is where Nick is at....
- Most day to day activities do not cause him a problem. He can walk, run, sit, lie etc without difficulty. However there are a few tweaks to this...
- Sitting for longer than about an hour causes him discomfort and sometimes pain
- When tired, or after sitting for a while, he tends to push his upper back forward because his back still doesn't have full strength to hold him upright
- He still can't reach much below his knees (with legs kept straight)
- He still has a lower straight leg raise on his right side
- He is focusing hard on improving his core and back strength and does exercises at least once if not twice a day. He also stretches a lot.
- He's lost a lot of fitness and put on a little weight so he needs to work on those too.
- Tennis. He is playing tennis again but needs to do a full warm up routine and stretches afterwards. He needs a good rest (lying down) afterwards and at the moment can only manage playing every other day - two days in a row would be too much for him. He has played a few competitive matches and each time he copes better.
- School. He started his GCSEs yesterday and has coped so far. He decided to drop one exam because it was a 2 hour paper and he had 3 hours of other exams scheduled for the same day - five hours of sitting would be too much for him. We have also arranged for him to be allowed 'supervised rest breaks' during exams if he needs to stand up and stretch out - required a letter from his doctor and organising with his school.
- Emotionally. Much happier and more like his former self. This is probably partly because he is not often in pain but probably mainly because he is back playing tennis, which is the love of his life. He is a lot more chirpy and cheerful than of recent months which is really love to see.
- Physio. His physio is anticipating about 6 more sessions will be needed, and expects him to be able to return fully to his pre-herniated disc days. He can't wait!
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