PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION

1. Please follow your bracing instructions directly. If you follow these instructions, it will aid your ability to have the brace removed sooner, because you will fuse faster. Typically, fusion patients must wear a lumbar brace strictly in the first six weeks after surgery, and then often longer. This means you must wear your brace when in the shower, before getting out of bed, and any-time you are up.

2. See the general instructions for post-operative care regarding the aversion of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory and/or steroid medications as they can inhibit fusion.

3. Avoid sitting straight up. This position puts tremendous strain on the lumbosacral spine and can slow your recovery.

4. Ice can be very helpful to reduce the muscle soreness on the back after surgery.

5. You should avoid all forms of tobacco and nicotine including smoking, second-hand smoke (near a smoking person), third-hand smoke (near a person who had been smoking elsewhere), and nicotine patches and gum. These can inhibit and even completely prevent your healing and fusion.