Joining the Overseas ADR Club
 

Hello All,

This may be one of the few places where I can tell people that I'm going to Spain for back surgery without having to explain much about the reason why.

Thanks to the creators and contributors of this site for all the information that helped with the decision. I'm scheduled for an L5-S1 ADR with Dr. Clavel on March 6.

I injured my back practicing martial arts (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) two years ago. Since then, I've been through most conservative treatments without much success. During the last 4 months the pain has become a constant problem so I finally decided to consider surgery.

Prior to consulting Dr. Clavel, I consulted with two orthopedic surgeons in the Washington D.C. area and had a discogram. One of the local surgeons recommended fusion and the other ADR using the ProDisc. I was leaning towards the ProDisc surgery until the cost was estimated around $135K (it's out of network). That made me look for options which led me to this site.

Now I'm looking forward to a successful surgery in Barcelona and a solid recovery. My goal is to eventually go back to practice martial arts and live without the drag of back pain.

Best of luck, and remember to post back here to let us know how things go to help others like yourself. :)

Wishing you a successful surgery!

Clavel
 

Everything still in place for march? I wanted to ask you about the results of your MRI and did u have any loss of disc height and if so how does clavel determine the right disc size for you? And also do u have proper lumbar curve? Thx man

I used to compete in regular Jiu-Jitsu! Dr. Clavel told me that a year after the surgery I could compete with impunity, grappling and all, even neck-holds (I'm having three cervical and three lumbar), so you should be up and on the mat in no time!

Maybe we can even upload videos of ourselves back on the mat, just to show people they can. When is your surgery scheduled?

Bjj
 

Great idea!!! We can do a guillotine demonstration for ur m6c disc and for lumbar guys a full guard game w triangles while gettn stacked lol

Impunity
 

Great word. Without worry of injury

I think that might have been my word. I tend to be a bit verbose. LOL!

I'm totally going to go find a male black-belt to put me in a choke-hold after those puppies have fully healed. I'm going to film it and go HAH! Grappling again, baby!

On a side note, to think that I did all of those things you mentioned with six ruptured discs in my spine! Holy COW! Sure glad I didn't realize it at the time! I would have been way more careful. And that's no fun. ;-)

Bjj
 

Yes!!!! Same here. Before I woke up with numbness everywhere I was boxing grappling gettn stacked on my head, doin squats you name it. So who knows what could of happened. But yea if this all works out we owe it to everyone to post some kind of crazy video.

MM, I don't understand the variance in US prices. It's nuts and very regional. However, the "higher volume" spine clinics would charge 1/3 of what you were quoted. Did you shop around in the states?!

For reference: http://www.adrsupport.org/forums/f50...doctors-11140/