New Norge just sits in garage....

[Cool Runnings]

{rant on}

Spent all kinds of money on updates + cost of new bike, 1,500 miles on her and I can hardly ride the dang thing. Planning on a 10 day vacation in August, may have to cancel due to chronic lower back pain (stenosis). If things don't improve I'm limited to 1/2 hour rides and back in the steam room. Looks like my summer will be spent on physical therapy in the water (rides the Vespa 4 minutes to the heath club).........

Ain't getting old just grand.



{rant off}

[Dave Swanson]

Sorry to hear this.  I hope things get better. 

[nc43bsa]

If you lived closer to me, I'd offer to ride it for you.

You know, just to keep the fluids moving.

[tris]

That's a shame
I found with my B11 that it's not quite the right shape for me and needs dialing in
A sheepskin seat pad helps and Goldwing pegs and Norge Pilot bar risers are in my future
Don't despair I'm sure it will come together

[Cool Runnings]

Trying to avoid the knife, Mayo Clinic said surgery is required. Seems like if it ain't one thing it's another, once the weather starts getting nice, I'm going to do a trial 200 mile round trip trial run and see how I manage.  About the only thing left to add comfort is Norge Pilot's bar risers.

Thanks for the input. 

[Rotten Ralph]

Trying to avoid the knife, Mayo Clinic said surgery is required. Seems like if it ain't one thing it's another, once the weather starts getting nice, I'm going to do a trial 200 mile round trip trial run and see how I manage.  About the only thing left to add comfort is Norge Pilot's bar risers.

Thanks for the input. 

Good idea to avoid surgery if at all possible. Often it works great but there is plenty of opportunity for complications.

[Sheepdog]

I'm sort've in the same situation. Farm duties, elder care, kids, church commitments...it's really tough to find the time. A creaky old body doesn't help (the foot-dragging by my health insurance to fix my knees is really getting old). Oh well, the weather has been so hot down here that motorcycle riding is only fun in the early morning or late afternoon, anyway. For now, I love going in my air-conditioned shop and looking my stable over. I spent most of my life wishing for bikes like the ones I now own, so things aren't all bad. So whenever my old body lets me down, I try to remember the sage words of Madeleine L'Engle:

"The great thing about getting older is that you don't lose all the other ages you've been."

Hmmm...did I ever tell ya'll about that trip I took on my old R60?

[Nic in Western NYS]

Very sorry to hear about your stenosis.  Back pain just takes joy out of everything.  I remember when I had my Sport 1100, a spirited ride would help any back pain.  I hope you find what works for you.

[rboe]

Back pain is a pain. You try to avoid the knife at all costs (surgery has its' own problems, during and long after) but if you wait too long, depending upon what is being offended, you run the risk of killing off the nerve - and that cause worse life long issues. A friend of a friend that was a wonderful dancer toughed it out so long he lost a nerve that controlled his foot. No more dancing.

So sometimes your choices are not pleasant no matter which one you take.

[TobyJug]

Is it hooked up to a Battery Tender?

[not-fishing]

Your story is making me vulnerable, I've been loosing friends and relatives.  Unfortunately for me my wife's a junky and my retirement is probably going to be when I'm planted.

I've already made it working a decade longer than my dad and I have the same arthritis of the spine that he did.  I just refuse to take the pills and deal with the pain.  My Griso's been a God-send for back therapy.

So maybe I should leave for the John Day Rally early and make a side trip to look at a special, for me, Guzzi to add to the Gaggle.

Sometimes you just have to jump off the cliff and try to fly.

Mark

[kingoffleece]

+1 on the nerve damage thing.  My Uncle waited way too long and lost the use of his legs because of just that.
I'm proof that the operation works.  Had double fusion in my neck almost 4 years ago and it restored 90% of what I had lost.  Wish I had done it 10 years sooner.

Good luck.

[Fuzzy]

I am now 3 months out from a laminectomy and single level fusion L4-L5, and I still can't ride. It's the fusion that slows things down. Either way, don't do it any later than December so you can be rehabbed in time for riding season next year. In the meantime, I am going through serious $ buying stuff for my Breva in place of riding.
If the stenosis is really crippling you, even though surgery is a drag, assuming it works (I would trust Mayo, same as I trusted the guys here at UW (don't know if I'd feel as good about other programs)), you could be back soon with good therapy. I don't think that there is a good way to make stenosis disappear without surgery, so maybe it is just best to get it behind you.

I am not advocating surgery as a sole option but I think you need to consider it as a reasonable option, and don't wait too long to decide. Perhaps if you did it now you could have a good late fall (autumn).

[Cool Runnings]

All I need to do is make a call to 'Rochester Mayo Clinic' and meet with surgeons for surgery.

Going through two more sessions of PT and then meet with my sports Doc. Thinking I'll try a epidural next Month. Maybe that will buy me some time?

Thanks all for sharing your stories.

Got to get that new Guzzi top box mounted (with the doggies approval). 

[Fuzzy]

I had two rounds of epidurals. Got about two weeks apiece. Others report much better, maybe 6 months. Certainly worth a try. Good luck.

[Cool Runnings]

I had two rounds of epidurals. Got about two weeks apiece. Others report much better, maybe 6 months. Certainly worth a try. Good luck.

Fuzzy, you still having pain?

[raul]

I'm three weeks out from having my spinal stenosis dremmeled.  I had four epidurals before that.  The epidurals where ineffective.  My neck is far better than it has been in years and I should be riding again in a couple weeks.  I'll try to remember to let you know how it goes.

[Cool Runnings]

I'm three weeks out from having my spinal stenosis dremmeled.  I had four epidurals before that.  The epidurals where ineffective.  My neck is far better than it has been in years and I should be riding again in a couple weeks.  I'll try to remember to let you know how it goes.

Good to hear. I was told by a neurologist, surgery is the only fix. Question is, do I need it yet, as today back feels ok, yesterday, not ok, ok. 

“growing old isn’t for sissies”.

[Fuzzy]

The problem that I went in with, pain and numbness in my left leg (only while walking(but I like walking and do a lot of it)), has been fixed. I am walking around 5 mi per day pain free.

I do have to admit, though, that my body has not completely recovered. I don't know how much of that is a forced inactivity or whether my body is readjusting after having a bunch of nerves and muscle sliced.

My period of inactivity is longer because of the fusion. The calcification takes a long time to become secure enough for lifting, bending, or twisting.

Surgery was 3/11, and i am getting my first physical therapy this week. My doc says that he wants me to have some therapy before I do things like ride a bicycle. Up to this point he hasn't let me ride because of the risk of falling. The whole process has been unpleasant enough, and long enough that I don't want to do it again. So if he says don't, I won't.

That said, I am glad that I did it because I believe that I will be able to resume all normal activity over the next few months. And that is what I was hoping for when I decided to have surgery.

I am a little nervous about telling him that I ride a motorcycle, although I do have pretty sturdy armor in the spine area.

But the fusion added a whole layer of complication and time to the process. A laminectomy has a shorter and less unpleasant recovery time.

[Arizona Wayne]

Trying to avoid the knife, Mayo Clinic said surgery is required. Seems like if it ain't one thing it's another, once the weather starts getting nice, I'm going to do a trial 200 mile round trip trial run and see how I manage.  About the only thing left to add comfort is Norge Pilot's bar risers.

Thanks for the input. 

If you're looking at back surgery, did the Dr. tell you there is no guarantee after the surgery you will be any better, that you may even be in worse condition?   These are the truth.  I've known many who got back surgery who wished they never had.  Of course the Dr. get's his $ either way.

My lower back has been shot for decades,  but as long as I'm leaning forward some I can ride all day comfortably. 

[rodekyll]

I had some grinder work done at c6/c7 (iirc -- up in the neck).  It was keeping me from getting my arms up into a riding position, and the time I got on the bike I rode it a mile and needed help getting home from the post office.  It was that bad.  I took my first post-op ride about 8 weeks after the surgery, and have ridden weekly (as in every week) since.  I'm still working on getting the upper body strength back, but aside from an infernal itching in the general scar location it's been pretty much as advertised.  I'm right on two years out now, and I'm headed to the national.  I might have been able to do a long trip at one year, but other things prevented it.

It's encouraging enough that I've been trying to get my lower back worked on.  I've done everything except actual voodoo to avoid another surgery in the L4/L5/S1 area, but the success at my neck makes me think that a mob of masked men with knives intent on rendering me unconscious and taking my money might be the answer.

[Fuzzy]

If you're looking at back surgery, did the Dr. tell you there is no guarantee after the surgery you will be any better, that you may even be in worse condition?   These are the truth.

AZwayne is right. If the Dr. doesn't tell you the same thing, he is being negligent.

[Cool Runnings]

If you're looking at back surgery, did the Dr. tell you there is no guarantee after the surgery you will be any better, that you may even be in worse condition?   These are the truth.  I've known many who got back surgery who wished they never had.  Of course the Dr. get's his $ either way.

My lower back has been shot for decades,  but as long as I'm leaning forward some I can ride all day comfortably. 

Yeah.

[eldoroddo]

I have issues at both ends of my spine. Back in 2010 I was noticing that I couldn't lift my left arm up to wash my hair, and I couldn't make my left hand operate correctly to hook up the D ring on my helmet. I had no neck pain, but my left arm atrophied and I was rushed in for a disk fusion and titanium plate. I did hear crackling in my neck whenever I would turn it. Now my neck hurts 24/7 AND the crackling is still there.

Now my lower back sciatica is giving me the fits. I had three previous epidurals yearly like clockwork, then was OK for the last four years. Now it's flaring up and affecting the front left groin and top of the knee. I go in for an epidural on July 1st.

Walking sucks. Sitting doesn't produce any pain, but I think prolonged sitting is what's aggravating the nerve in the first place. I'm only 52.

Feeling like this, The CX100 is more comfortable than the Eldo with the cop bars (Guzzi content )

[crock]

All you back pain sufferers should check out egoscue.com, then find a trained Egoscue physical therapist in your area. After two weeks most of your problems will be over. Take it from me I was a vertebrae invalid for two years and tried everything people have posted and quite a few more things as well. Egoscue therapy worked the best and is almost stupidly simple and cheap.  It doesn't matter if you have had surgery or not. It doesn't matter if you have had vertebrae fusions or not. It doesn't matter if you have titanium surgical implants. It just flat works for major pain reduction. I have been doing this now for 10 years and when the pain starts to come back I just ramp up my egoscue practices for a few days and it all goes away. I know, sounds too good be true. Beats the heck out of any other back therapy I have heard of.

[Arizona Wayne]

My fix right now is an inversion table both the wife & I use.  It at least gives you instant relief until the next time you need it.  Before that I used to hang on a pullup bar and let gravity realign my back, but that kind of hurt when you felt your back drop back into it's proper positions.      With the inversion table there is no pain.   

[eldoroddo]

All you back pain sufferers should check out egoscue.com, then find a trained Egoscue physical therapist in your area. After two weeks most of your problems will be over. Take it from me I was a vertebrae invalid for two years and tried everything people have posted and quite a few more things as well. Egoscue therapy worked the best and is almost stupidly simple and cheap.  It doesn't matter if you have had surgery or not. It doesn't matter if you have had vertebrae fusions or not. It doesn't matter if you have titanium surgical implants. It just flat works for major pain reduction. I have been doing this now for 10 years and when the pain starts to come back I just ramp up my egoscue practices for a few days and it all goes away. I know, sounds too good be true. Beats the heck out of any other back therapy I have heard of.

My wife bought the book and the DVD. Tried it a couple of nights ago, time permitting.
Looks like I need to block off more time and really get into it.
Thank you.

[atavar]

I am on a long trip with my Norge and I have some L2-L3 damage. I have a huge sleeping bag on the pillion seat and it is doing a great job for lumbar support. Try one that is so big you have to slide back and squeeze it. It makes a huge difference.

[rodekyll]

I am on a long trip with my Norge and I have some L2-L3 damage. I have a huge sleeping bag on the pillion seat and it is doing a great job for lumbar support. Try one that is so big you have to slide back and squeeze it. It makes a huge difference.

What he said