This is my 8th year anniversary of my spinal fusion surgery. I have been asked countless times by people 'how are you doing now' and 'can you please post an update' so here it finally is ....

In summary, I have continued to enjoy great back health over this 8 year period except for the times when I have 'over done it' in terms of lifting something over 150lbs, doing too much snow shovelling, committing the ultimate sin of 'bend/lift/twist', etc - in which case my back can get sore and I will need to ice it and even wear a back support brace to give it time to heal.

Obviously a fused spine puts more stress on the remaining unfused spinal disks and in my case L2-3 has always been a bit ratty so that is the one disk I need to keep a close eye on. I think the last year of group yoga classes wasn't the best idea for me as my L2-3 region and SI joint has acted up in the last 3 months - so I have cut out the yoga and have been icing/wearing a brace and it is healing up nicely now.

In the past 8 years I have been very active, cycling more than 40,000kms, getting in the best cardio shape of my life (265W FTP - cyclists will know what that means, doing the Levi Fondo [160kms, 8,000' of vertical] with my super fit eldest son in under 6hrs, etc). So my back has held together and allowed me to do these things which is a wonderful gift after having suffered so much poor back health prior to my surgery.

Anyway, I will only post a further update if my back starts to fall apart again - I will be more than willing to share the bad news if and when it arrives ...

In this strange Covid-19 era, please be safe, and hopefully delay your surgery until 2021 if that is what your heart is set on ...

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