How long is the recovery period after a spine surgery?

The recovery period depends on the type of spine surgery a patient undergoes. Procedures such as discectomy, surgery to remove all or part of your disk, and foraminotomy, surgery to widen the opening in your back where nerve roots leave your spinal column, have a recovery period of a few days. However, surgeries like spinal fusions, the fusion of two bones together in your back or neck to alleviate pain, may have a recovery period of several weeks (although you generally will be up and moving fairly quickly). You will want to avoid heavy lifting, bending or twisting until adequate healing has occurred.