The decision to undergo artificial disc replacement surgery wasn’t one that you made on a whim. Like millions of others — back pain alone affects up to 80% of people — you first endured years of back or neck pain and limited movement. Making matters worse, the conservative treatments that you’ve tried are falling short on bringing you much-needed relief.

The good news is that artificial disc replacement has a great track record — one study concludes that the long-term results of artificial disc replacement led to, “Durable symptomatic relief, high patient satisfaction, and a low incidence of complications and reoperations.”

The other piece of good news is that our own Dr. Ali H. Mesiwala is one of the leading experts in artificial disc replacement and spine surgery. This means that you’re under excellent care with Dr. Mesiwala and our highly skilled team, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t play a role in recovering well.

To that end, here we look at some key recovery tips before and after artificial disc replacement surgery.

1. Prepare in advance

In many cases, we’re able to perform artificial disc replacement surgery on an outpatient basis, which means you can get back to the comforts of your own home on the same day. Given this quick return to home during early recovery, there’s much that you can do to make this re-entry go smoothly, such as:

• Preparing meals in advance
• Taking time off work (at least a week or two)
• Setting up a good recovery area with everything in reach
• Getting prescriptions filled in advance

To figure out what you should do to prepare in advance, consider your daily routine and look at what might prove to be more challenging during your early recovery. Bear in mind, you can move around after your artificial disc replacement, but we advise against anything that involves lifting or anything strenuous for at least a few weeks. So, if anything fits this bill, please enlist some help.

2. Dressing care

Dr. Mesiwala performs artificial disc replacement using advanced surgical techniques, and one of the benefits of this approach is smaller incisions.

Though these smaller incisions greatly reduce your risks and improve your recovery time, you still need to care for the small incisions by changing the dressings regularly and cleaning the sites.

Rest assured, we’ll give you detailed instructions on dressing care, and we want you to follow them closely.

3. Go for walks and do your physical therapy

One of the many reasons why people choose artificial disc replacement over spinal fusion is to preserve movement in the spine. And this advantage is found in early recovery — with spinal fusion, you must be still to allow the bones to fuse. With disc replacement, we encourage you to move, which can help with healing.

Now, we aren’t talking about pounding the pavement for a run, but we do want you to go for walks, and you can engage in other activities that get you moving without straining your spine.

We also recommend physical therapy (PT) after a procedure like this, which can help you build a strong foundation in your spine during your recovery that will serve you well down the road. So, please attend all your PT appointments and do the exercises on your own, too.

4. Keep up with your follow-up appointments

After your artificial disc replacement surgery, you can count on some follow-up visits with Dr. Mesiwala and the team, during which we can track your progress. Please make sure to prioritize these important visits.

Between our work on the artificial disc replacement and your recovery work at home, we’re confident that you’ll be moving around without back or neck pain holding you back.

If you have more questions about recovering from artificial disc  replacement surgery, please don’t hesitate to contact one of our offices in Newport Beach, Marina del Rey, or Rancho Cucamonga, California, today.