Tyler Stratman spent years in debilitating back pain, unable to walk a city block without stopping — until a minimally invasive spine procedure gave him his life back the same day he had surgery.
by Colleen ReynoldsOSF Healthcare
I don’t think I slept for probably four to five days...
The pain prompted Stratman to completely stop his habit of running four to five miles a day. “Even walking down the street to get Starbucks, my whole entire body would just kind of charley horse. I would have to stop in between blocks and kind of do hamstring stretches and things like that. And you know I was only 33 years old. And so, it was a huge, huge part of my life taken away.” An MRI eventually revealed a severe herniated disc in his lower spine. At its peak, Stratman describes unbearable pain and sleepless nights. “I don’t think I slept for probably four to five days,” Stratman explains. “I would have to go out in the middle of the night. We have a treadmill and I would have to go out at like three or four in the morning to walk just to relieve something – just so I wouldn’t feel pain.” Minimally invasive spine surgery offers new option in Central Illinois
Photo provided
Dr. Sohail Syed, MD
Endoscopic spine surgery reduces damage and recovery time
“Rather than going through all that, you can sneak underneath the nerve. And the endoscopic camera has an angle on it so it lets you look around the corner and work in the natural hole that exists in the spine without removing any bone or tissue and go right to the disc, remove the disc that’s pushing on the nerve or the bone spur and be in and out just using a one to two centimeter incision.” Dr. Syed emphasizes that surgery is typically a last resort after conservative treatments fail but says Stratman was an ideal candidate due to both his condition and mindset. “He was a great candidate for endoscopic spine surgery because of the type of disc herniation he had, the location, his age and his attitude,” Dr. Syed emphasizes, “He was really willing to do the work required after to get the best benefit from the surgery.” Stratman ultimately chose the less invasive option that allowed surgeons to access his spine through a natural pathway while he remained partially awake. Though initially daunting, he says the decision became clear after years of suffering. It offered him hope and following a two-and-a-half-hour procedure, the results were almost immediate. Finding immediate reliefNon-invasive spine surgery
“It was an instant relief. The kind of like nugget charley horse I just felt like I had in my back for those years – it was just gone. I didn’t feel it anymore,” he explains. Stratman was also relieved he didn’t have to travel to St. Louis or Chicago for the innovative surgical approach. He was back home the same day – seven hours after his surgery. Dr. Syed notes that while some people experience immediate improvement, recovery timelines can vary depending on the severity and duration of nerve compression.
Photo: Courtesy OSF
