Originally Posted by
Nanatuk
I didn't have my disc's fused, I had/have stenosis that progressed from not being able to get out of a chair to being sprawled out on the family room floor all day, using a walker to get to the bathroom. I weighed about 260 at the time. My doc had me get the steroid shots to the spine to relieve the pain but that made it worse. Finally had surgery. Procedure basically cleared the impingements where the nerve exits the backbone. I walked out of the surgery with no pain. Doc told me that it would happen again if I didn't lose weight and strengthen my core. He said the best way to do both was to walk.
I started stretching and walking every morning before work. first 1 mile then 3 then 7 miles. I got up to 25-35 miles a week. I bought an inversion bench and started using it daily to decompress the disks and stretch.
Took a couple of years to really feel like my back was healthy. Never really had any plans to do any long distance hiking, but soon I started to feel like I could. In 2019 I started hiking the PCT. I've hiked 2100 miles so far. Hope to finish the trail next summer. I thought I was interested in a thru-hike, but have decided that its not for me. My limit is 6-9 weeks at a time. After that it isn't fun for me anymore.
Ditto on Zelph's advice, Once you've had your procedure, follow your doc's advice, go walk, build up your time and distance. Get healthy and figure out what your goals are.