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Lumbar spinal fusion effect on playing



 
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Uberopa
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Joined: 11 Dec 2003
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Location: Canada

PostPosted: Mon Jan 14, 2019 11:24 am    Post subject: Lumbar spinal fusion effect on playing Reply with quote

Hi All
Our lead trumpet player in big band is having a spinal fusion L5-6 this week. He is unsure whether he will be able to continue playing post op. Have any players out there had this type of surgery and what was the recovery time needed?
The band is mostly old farts so we sit to play. Some of us with prostate problems may squat to pee but that may be too much information.
I recognize that the direction of the surgeon is paramount but there are not a lot of trumpet playing orthopods out there. Thanks.
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John Mohan
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Joined: 13 Nov 2001
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 14, 2019 2:11 pm    Post subject: Re: Lumbar spinal fusion effect on playing Reply with quote

Uberopa wrote:
Hi All
Our lead trumpet player in big band is having a spinal fusion L5-6 this week. He is unsure whether he will be able to continue playing post op. Have any players out there had this type of surgery and what was the recovery time needed?
The band is mostly old farts so we sit to play. Some of us with prostate problems may squat to pee but that may be too much information.
I recognize that the direction of the surgeon is paramount but there are not a lot of trumpet playing orthopods out there. Thanks.


If the surgery is going to be laparoscopic, recovery time should be fairly quick (he'll probably be able to start playing again in a matter of a few weeks.) Even if it is open surgery, recover time will be a matter of weeks, not months (perhaps 4 to 6 weeks). Basically, playing up to the range of around G on top of the staff requires no more physical excursion from muscles of expiration (including mainly the rear portion of the internal intercostal muscles - these are the ones in the lumbar region of the back / rib cage), then does coughing. And he'll be expected to cough and clear his longs even just hours post surgery.

If he keeps the playing in the range of tuning C and lower he can probably start playing again even sooner. He should definitely ask his doctor about this.

For what it's worth, my qualifications in this area besides being a professional trumpet player, are approximately 80% of a Biomedical Engineering degree and I am within two semesters of completing my training as a Registered Nurse. (In other words: he should definitely ask his doctor about this.)

Best wishes,

John Mohan
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mrhappy
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Joined: 03 Dec 2018
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Location: Port Jackson, NY

PostPosted: Mon Jan 14, 2019 6:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Uberopa... wishing for a speedy recovery for your guy!

On the silly side... Just be prepared as post surgery he may only want to play jazz Fusion music!!
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TrumpetMD
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Joined: 22 Oct 2008
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Location: Maryland

PostPosted: Mon Jan 14, 2019 6:02 pm    Post subject: Re: Lumbar spinal fusion effect on playing Reply with quote

Uberopa wrote:
I recognize that the direction of the surgeon is paramount but there are not a lot of trumpet playing orthopods out there. Thanks.

I think you might mean L5/S1, not L5/L6. There is no L6. FWIW, I'm a physician. But as you pointed out, the surgeon's instructions are the most important.

And I agree that there aren't too many trumpet-playing surgeons out there.
I've posted the following in the past, to help trumpet players talk to their non-trumpet-playing surgeons.

Playing the trumpet is similar to moderate physical activity (3-6 METs), and would be comparable to a brisk walk, moderate calisthenics, sexual activity, or bicycle riding. In addition, playing the trumpet is similar to moderate resistance weight training, such as working with a pair of 20-pound free weights.

These are just general guidelines, and don't cover every time of trumpet playing. But they might help foster shared-decision-making between your friend and his surgeon about how long he should refrain from playing.

Mike
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Uberopa
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Joined: 11 Dec 2003
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Location: Canada

PostPosted: Mon Jan 14, 2019 7:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you for all your responses. I will definitely tell him that he should be good for fusion music.lol
Geezer Jon is there anything you can't do? Good advice. Sorry doc. As a retired R. N. I should have got the spinal vertebrae correct. My face is quite red. Your advice is quite sound. My friend is pretty freaked out by the surgery. I think that it is laparoscopic.Hopefully he will be back soon.
John, I was a registered nurse for forty years. One piece of advice for you in a female dominated profession: Always let people at the nursing station desk know where you are going. Nurses are passive aggressive as a rule. The saboteurs, when asked, will sigh meaningfully, eyeroll and tell your instructor or manager that they have no idea where you are. Code for he is hiding out watching the game with one of the patients.
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chuck in ny
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Joined: 23 Sep 2006
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Location: New York

PostPosted: Thu Jan 24, 2019 1:19 pm    Post subject: Re: Lumbar spinal fusion effect on playing Reply with quote

John Mohan wrote:
Uberopa wrote:
Hi All
Our lead trumpet player in big band is having a spinal fusion L5-6 this week. He is unsure whether he will be able to continue playing post op. Have any players out there had this type of surgery and what was the recovery time needed?
The band is mostly old farts so we sit to play. Some of us with prostate problems may squat to pee but that may be too much information.
I recognize that the direction of the surgeon is paramount but there are not a lot of trumpet playing orthopods out there. Thanks.


If the surgery is going to be laparoscopic, recovery time should be fairly quick (he'll probably be able to start playing again in a matter of a few weeks.) Even if it is open surgery, recover time will be a matter of weeks, not months (perhaps 4 to 6 weeks). Basically, playing up to the range of around G on top of the staff requires no more physical excursion from muscles of expiration (including mainly the rear portion of the internal intercostal muscles - these are the ones in the lumbar region of the back / rib cage), then does coughing. And he'll be expected to cough and clear his longs even just hours post surgery.

If he keeps the playing in the range of tuning C and lower he can probably start playing again even sooner. He should definitely ask his doctor about this.

For what it's worth, my qualifications in this area besides being a professional trumpet player, are approximately 80% of a Biomedical Engineering degree and I am within two semesters of completing my training as a Registered Nurse. (In other words: he should definitely ask his doctor about this.)

Best wishes,

John Mohan



the beloved concept, an actual day job. good on you. i know a lot of nurses we have them in the family, and then all their friends, and watching them in the hospital as my rapidly aging generation checks out. they are the glue that holds health care together and are always working their butts off.
there are advantages to being in the middle of the chain and then there are disadvantages especially having to perform questionable medicine because the doctor is a jerk. there's no out and the old nurses who have been through it are glad to bail and get their social security. you can largely mitigate things through your choice of duty. different type of a choice for a trumpet player i'll give you that.
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Jerry Freedman
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Joined: 29 Jan 2002
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Location: Burlington, Massachusetts

PostPosted: Fri Jan 25, 2019 4:14 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I had one in2012. There is a boat load of metal in my back. Took me about 2 weeks to recover ( Docs said I was fast) but once I recovered playing wasn't an issue
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CartersPop
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Joined: 20 May 2018
Posts: 68
Location: San Antonio

PostPosted: Tue Jan 29, 2019 11:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I am a physician, specifically a radiologist, who looks at xrays of a lot of backs with a lot of hardware. I also underwent a sizable repeat lumbar fusion just under 3 months ago, the fifth low back surgery in as many years. I am now fused from L1 to S1 (6 vertebra and the 5 discs in between them). My xrays look like the junk drawer at a hardware store. I play trumpet, baritone and a little french horn historically and am working my way back into more active playing duties for the last couple years. My dad was a lifelong trumpet player and music teacher/instructor/director who taught literally hundreds of students, including me, and helped me to get my two sons onto playing the trumpet and/or cornet. I still teach the youngest who is nearly 11 and playing now for going on two years. Lastly, I still wear a large semi-rigid back brace for over a year now and probably will at least for a few more months til completely healed

Re: your one level low back surgery (probably NOT a fusion if being done with a "scope"), it really should not have that much effect on your playing other than taking the first couple weeks afterwards off completely, except for maybe some mouthpiece buzzing. Although the strain of playing is serious exercise as described above by TrumpetMD, it is not the type that will cause serious harm to your back surgery site. The weight of the horn and case is probably about as much as you should be lifting, but the horn itself is not too heavy to hold up (well under the 10# or the usual gallon of milk restrictions). As long as you can sit upright, develop a decent blow, control your diaphragm and chest and abdominal wall muscles without too much straining, you should be fine. My best advice is "if it hurts don't do it". I started playing within two weeks of each of my last two major surgeries (anesthesia time of 8 hours and 5 hours respectively), both within the last 12 months.

A minor correction to a previous comment (based on my experience of reading literally hundreds of thousands of xrays over 35 years) --- although most people do only have 5 lumbar vertebra (numbered L1 thru L5), there is a small percentage of people in the world who actually do have 6, and an smaller number who have only 4. That also is unlikely to affect one's horn playing, however. Viva la difference'.
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