How long after surgery until you can drive

[Greg]

Kathy (KBear) put up a post yesterday containing an informal survey asking, "How long did it take you to heal from surgery?" Here is a link to that survey....please take the time to fill it out if you can

How long did it take you to heal from surgery?

So with inspiration from Kathy I think I have another good question to take a survey with....who know's, Maybe Justin can set up a sub-forum for Surveys or set up a survery/poll box on the site. That'd be cool!

How long did it take after surgery before you could drive?

1. What surgery did you have? What level(s)?

2. How long were you in the hosptal?

3. How long did the doctor say before you could drive?

4. When did you feel like you could drive if you absolutely had to if it was before the guideline set forth by your doctor?

5. What type of Car did you drive?

6. What type of transmission did that car have? (Manual/Automatic)

7. Did driving irritate or cause you pain? If so, explain

8. Was there anything you did that made driving easier, more comfortable, less pain, etc


9. What would you like to see asked for the next survery?

10. What was your diagnosis prior to surgery? Please be specific

I will eventually wade through all of the answers to come up with some easy to read results that will be posted on this thread after at least a week.

Maybe if this kicks off the ground we can have a thread for survey ideas?. I think survery's like these will be a nice addition to the site and very helpful to its users. People could go through the Suvery forum and have the answers to their questions from a lot of people (in different situations) instead of having to post their question each and every time or spend a lot of time searching....and they might even find answers to questions they didnt know to ask And they could see who had what done and know who to contact if they had questions specific to thats person's diagnosis/treatment. I am going to talk with Justin and see what is the best way we could do this and maybe post a new survey everyday / week / couple days?

What do yall think? How long should a survey run before posting a new one?

And hopefully I dont make myself look like a fool if something like this is already out there I looked around and didnt see anything but let me know if there is and then I can se the proper emoticon on myself

[Greg]

How long did it take before you could drive?

1. What surgery did you have? What level(s)?

2 level (ALIF) Fusion, L4-S1 (L4/L5/S1 are now one vertebrae. I think I'll call it "L45S1"

2. How long were you in the hosptal?

3 Days, 2 nights.....6/18/10 @ 6am --- 6/20/10 @ 1pm

3. How long did the doctor say before you could drive?

And I quote, "Driving: None for 2 weeks, and only after consulting your doctor. Drive for short intervals. In addition to these precautions, do not drive cars with standard transmissions (stick shifts) without consulting physician.

4. When did you feel like you could drive if you absolutely had to if it was before the guideline set forth by your doctor?

Probably around the 9th or 10th day I felt physically capable of driving if I had to.

5. What type of Car did you drive?

2005 Volkswagon Jetta GLI

6. What type of transmission did that car have? (Manual/Automatic)

Manual 6 speed stick shift. I read something in my discharge paperwork saying this would add more restriction but I have perfected the art of shifting without using the cutch so THAT PART DOESNT COUNT!

7. Did driving irritate or cause you pain? If so, explain

A little bit. Sitting in a car for long periods of time always made my back hurt



8. Was there anything you did that made driving easier, more comfortable, less pain, etc

• Adjusting the seat to sit straight up where you have a 90 degree angle from your spine to you legs.
• Not letting my legs lay outward (spread apart)....keep them straight like your sitting at the dinner table.
• Pillow behind your back or adjust lumbar support if applicable
• TENS Unit works nice for me while driving
• For long rides, stopevery hour or 2 and stretch or just walk around for a couple minutes.....works wonders!

[KBear]

1. What surgery did you have? What level(s)?
ADR at L4/5


2. How long were you in the hosptal?
3 days/2 nights


3. How long did the doctor say before you could drive?
I thought they said 6 weeks, however after that my doctor said oh we only tell people 2 weeks


4. How long did you actually wait to drive? (Dont worry , nobody's gonna tell you doctor if you didn't follow the
guidelines)
6 weeks. I could have before then, but was enjoying not having to get up and take my daughter to school

5. What type of Car did you drive?
GMC Yukon


6. What type of transmission did that car have? (Manual/Automatic)
automatic


7. Did driving irritate or cause you pain? If so, explain
It was a little hard getting in and out of the car, but that was the same whether I was the driver or someone else was. Other than that, no more pain than normal


8. Was there anything you did that made driving easier, more comfortable, less pain, etc
I always sit with my seat straight up, lumbar support out and leave my heated seats on

[ajj1001]

Two sets of replies for both of my spine surgeries

1. What surgery did you have? What level(s)?
ADR L4/L5 & L5/S1
2. How long were you in the hosptal?
2 weeks
3. How long did the doctor say before you could drive?
3 - 6 months
4. How long did you actually wait to drive? (Dont worry , nobody's gonna tell you doctor if you didn't follow the guidelines - though your insurance may be invalid if you disregarding medical guidance)
6 months, abdomen wasn't strong enough to carry out emergency stop safely before then.
5. What type of Car did you drive?6. What type of transmission did that car have? (Manual/Automatic)
Manual, Fiat & Peugot
7. Did driving irritate or cause you pain? If so, explain
Didn't drive for long as it was uncomfy
8. Was there anything you did that made driving easier, more comfortable, less pain, etc
Lots of breaks for longer journeys
9. What would you like to see asked for the next survery?
Unsure, would like the results colating for surveys so someone doesn't have to wade through a huge amount of writing to see what the average is

1. What surgery did you have? What level(s)
Instrumented fusion of L5/S1 over charite adr
2. How long were you in the hosptal?
4 days
3. How long did the doctor say before you could drive?
3 months
4. How long did you actually wait to drive? (Dont worry , nobody's gonna tell you doctor if you didn't follow the guidelines - though your insurance may be invalid if you disregarding medical guidance)
3months, sitting was far too uncomfortable before then and pain meds were too high to be safe
5. What type of Car did you drive?6. What type of transmission did that car have? (Manual/Automatic)
Manual, Renault & Estate
7. Did driving irritate or cause you pain? If so, explain
Caused increased pain due to sitting
8. Was there anything that ,ade driving easier, more comfortable, less pain, etc
Stopping and walking around.
9. What would you like to see asked for the next survery?
Unsure, would like the results colating for surveys so someone doesn't have to wade through a huge amount of writing to see what the average is

[Greg]

Alsion,

Good point with the little caviat on the actual time you drove. I think I will rephrase the question to say, "At what point did you feel like you could drive if you absolutely had to." Does that one sound better?

And I think tallying up the results after a certain point of time would be a great idea. I dont have a problem wading through all the data and making some user friendly results that could remain at the top and everyone could still see how different procedures gave different results in the rest of the thread.

[dalhousie]

Two sets of replies for both of my spine surgeries

1. What surgery did you have? What level(s)?
ALIF @ L1/2.
2. How long were you in the hosptal?
10 nights.
3. How long did the doctor say before you could drive?
6 weeks.
4. How long did you actually wait to drive? (Dont worry , nobody's gonna tell you doctor if you didn't follow the guidelines - though your insurance may be invalid if you disregarding medical guidance)
At 8 weeks drove a short distance down the road to stop my car blocking the driveway.
5. What type of Car did you drive? What type of transmission did that car have? (Manual/Automatic)
SAAB, automatic.
7. Did driving irritate or cause you pain? If so, explain
Yes - sitting made spinal nerve pain worse. Drove minimal distance to begin with & gradually increased.
8. Was there anything you did that made driving easier, more comfortable, less pain, etc
Graduated distance increasing over time. Frequent breaks on longer journeys.
9. What would you like to see asked for the next survey?
Not sure, will give it some thought.

1. What surgery did you have? What level(s)
ADR Activ L @ L4/5.
2. How long were you in the hosptal?
4 nights.
3. How long did the doctor say before you could drive?
6 weeks.
4. How long did you actually wait to drive? (Dont worry , nobody's gonna tell you doctor if you didn't follow the guidelines - though your insurance may be invalid if you disregarding medical guidance)
10 weeks.
5. What type of Car did you drive?6. What type of transmission did that car have? (Manual/Automatic)
SAAB, automatic.
7. Did driving irritate or cause you pain? If so, explain
Yes. Sitting significantly aggravated nerve pain in my spine.
8. Was there anything that ,made driving easier, more comfortable, less pain, etc
Very short distances only.
9. What would you like to see asked for the next survery?
Not sure, will give it some thought.

[JK2234]

1 month for my neck

[Jack-of-all-trades]

I had L5-S1 fusion and was told 3 weeks or until the point where if I had to apply brakes really hard, back pain would not cause a reflex action of taking my foot off the brake.

[Cindylou]

I didn't drive for about 3 months with my 3 lumbar adr's. Let's see, with my ALIF of L6-S1, I didn't drive for all of 6 weeks. I can't remember with my right SI Joint Fusion last year. ? Maybe 4 or 5 weeks. With this latest hip surgery I didn't drive for 3 weeks, and then, just to physical therapy and home. My vehicles are both a challenge to drive with pain as well. I am either hiking up to get into my Land Rover, or in the summer, sinking down into my convertible Jaguar XK8. Not complaining though! I love that little silver bullet that always wants to go 90 out on the freeway...hehehe! I was definitely born with a lead foot.

[Rob]

What surgery did you have? What level(s)? ALIF L4/L5/S1 with posterior hardware (5-hour surgery)

2. How long were you in the hosptal? 3 nights, 4 days

3. How long did the doctor say before you could drive? As soon as I was comfortable to do so, and off the pain meds.

4. When did you feel like you could drive if you absolutely had to if it was before the guideline set forth by your doctor? 4-5 weeks post-op but my wife didn't think so. This was okay with me cause she offered to drive me everywhere. I actually drove at the 6-week post-op mark, still on pain meds of course!

5. What type of Car did you drive? SUV - couldn't stand the thought if I would have had to get into a standard height sedan.

6. What type of transmission did that car have? (Manual/Automatic) - Automatic - don't think I would have attempted a manual trans, though my car is a 5-speed miata!!!

7. Did driving irritate or cause you pain? If so, explain Mostly getting in and out, reaching for the seat belt & trying to turn to look when reversing of changing lanes.

8. Was there anything you did that made driving easier, more comfortable, less pain, etc Drive something you don;t have to get down into (i.e. van, SUV, pick-up). Don't parrallel park, pull through an open space in parking lots so you don't have to turn to back-out


9. What would you like to see asked for the next survery? i) What pain meds were you on. ii) When were you able to get off pain meds? iii) When were you able to get a relatively normal nights sleep?

10. What was your diagnosis prior to surgery? Please be specific Spondylolithesis L5/S1, DDD L4/L5,