Pain medications are provided either with PCA (patient controlled anesthesia), through the intervenous catheter, or by mouth.

The bowels can be slow to wake up post-operatively after an anterior approach. Often the diet is advanced slowly to not result in abdominal discomfort or distension.

Since fusion will take at least three months to set up, some type of immobilization is recommended. Often, bracing will be recommended. Hospital stay usually ranges from 2-5 days. The activity level is gradually increased. Patients are encouraged to walk as much as possible but to avoid lifting or binding early on. Strengthening and physical therapy can be started at three months post-operative if the fusion appears to be progressing well.

A stand-alone one-level spinal fusion is usually performed with an anterior cage or a piece of allograft to maintain the disc height. Often, anterior lumbar fusion is combined with a posterior instrumentation. The fusion rates for anterior and posterior surgery are very high, and in fact in some studies are 100%.

It should be noted that the time to fusion can vary, and usually use of the patient’s own bone or use of instrumentation can result in a quicker fusion. It usually takes approximately three months, but can take up to 6 to 9 months, for the bone graft to fuse to the vertebral body bone. Heavy lifting and overhead work are usually limited until the fusion is noted to be solid.

Signs of infection like swelling, redness or draining at the incision site, and fever should be checked out by the surgeon immediately. Keep in mind, everybody is different, and therefore the amount of time it takes to return to normal activities is different for every patient. Discomfort should decrease a little each day. Most patients will benefit from a postoperative exercise program or supervised physical therapy after surgery.