Getting a medical with radiculopathy (siatica)

L

Lin

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I am considering getting my PPL will I have any issues getting a medical with radiculopathy (siatica) due to DDD? I have no loss of strength or movement, just general numbness.
 
Yeah, I'm interested as well.
I had sciatica (well, a pinched nerve, due to doing work inappropriate for the elderly) and then I fell as I was healing, again doing something inappropriate, aggravating the heck out of things.
After six months, I have foot drop that I'm told could take over a year to get, well, as good as it will get.
We'll see if that triggers a SODA.
 
I had disc surgery about 35 years ago and several epidural injections for spinal stenosis since then. Other than a litte period of self grounding reported on the next medical, I've never had a problem with certification. I will note that I never took ANY narcotics during the entire time and each recovery was uneventful.
 
I had an L5/S1 microdiscectomy in my history (disc herniation and rupture with associated neuropathy/foot drop). I fully recovered motor losses but still have some lower extremity sensory loss (numbness). My AME had me push down with the 'affected' foot and said it was not a concern. Of course I had to submit all records from my Ortho Spine doc/hospitalization. The FAA agreed. I had another issue preventing an in office issue but the past lumbar spine disease was of no concern as it was not affecting motor abilities.
 
I had a 3-level cervical disk replacement done just over a year ago. No problems with my medical, but the AME wanted the information for who did the procedure, as he has friends with similar problems, and was amazed at my recovery. As an aside, I highly recommend the Virginia Spine Institute. Everyone else wanted to fuse the 4 vertebrae together. VSI replaced the disks, and I have full movement, and no more pain. They also have lumbar disk replacement procedures as well.

Virginia Spine Institute
 
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