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Spinal Fusion Healing Nutrition

Ensuring proper nutrition is always important, but perhaps never more critical than following a traumatic event like surgery. After surgery your body will need all the nutrients and vitamins it can get to facilitating the healing process, ensuring you recover within a reasonable amount of time. While there is no specific diet following spinal-fusion surgery, it would be beneficial to adhere to a generally nutritious way of eating.

  1. Spinal Fusion

    • Spinal fusion is a treatment whereby two or more vertebra are surgically fused together. This is accomplished by using a combination of rods, screws and bone grafts. Spinal fusion is most commonly required where injury has occurred to the spine, including slipped-disc situations, or where there is instability in the spine due to postural problems or infection.

    Diet and Recovery

    • In addition to physical therapy, your attending physician will likely prescribe a complementary diet as well. This will not likely be complex, but rather a recommendation to adhere to the generally accepted tenants of sound nutrition to facilitate proper healing. Providing your body with ample amounts of vitamins and minerals, including calcium, is the key to ensuring proper recovery of your spine.

    Overall Nutritional

    • According to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, it's important to consume a diet rich in whole grains, fruits and vegetables, while abstaining from consumption of sugars, alcohol, processed foods and refined flour items. Additionally, limit consumption of trans and saturated fats. Consume at least eight 8-oz. glasses of water per day, and aim to eat small meals five or six times a day.

    Fiber

    • According to the doctors at the San Diego Center for Spinal Disorders, ensuring adequate fiber consumption is also important while recovering from surgery. A high-fiber diet can help prevent constipation, avoiding strain which could cause discomfort in the period after surgery. Aim to consume at least 20g to 30g of fiber per day, ideally split between your meals.

    Calcium

    • The experts at Drugs.com also suggest a diet high in calcium-rich foods, as calcium is the main material from which bones are developed. These foods include, but are not limited to, dairy products, seafood and dark, leafy greens like spinach. Consume at least one serving of a calcium-rich food every other meal to help prevent bone loss and keep your spinal column as healthy as possible.

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