Back on the bike after endoscopic spine surgery

Julian O’Neil is only 23 years old, but if you were to look at his back before August of 2021, you would have thought he was much older. Julian had a large herniation in his disc which was aggravated when he was hit by a car earlier in the year. The recent George Washington University graduate admits that he was a bit tough on his body with a few sports injuries before, but the car accident literally wiped him out.

“Days after the crash, I couldn’t walk,” says Julian. “I was on heavy medication and could not lay my legs out straight. I actually gained 55 pounds before I met Dr. Armen Oganesian.” Julian was living in Washington D.C. when the accident happened. It actually took between five to six months for the diagnosis. His mom who lives in Thousand Oaks learned about endoscopic spine surgery from a colleague in her office.

“I actually tried to find a physician in D.C. who performed endoscopic spine surgery, but could not find one,” says Julian. “There are not a lot of surgeons who know how to do this type of spine surgery.” So, he headed home for the summer and made an appointment to see Dr. Oganesian.

“It was hard to see how much Julian had suffered over the course of a year for being so young. The lack of activity due to the pain had really taken a toll on his body. I was excited to get him out of pain so he can get back to the things he loved doing without pain”

Dr. Oganesian performed interlaminar endoscopic discectomy through the endoscope (small tubal device) through a keyhole incision in Julian’s back at Los Robles Health System’s Thousand Oaks Surgical Hospital (TOSH). The surgery, which generally takes less than two hours, is performed with minimal trauma to surrounding tissue, muscles, ligaments and tendons leading to a faster recovery.

“I woke up from my surgery and felt like I did a year ago,” says Julian. “The constant pain was gone. Before the surgery, I could walk 15 steps max,” he says. “That night I walked three blocks down the street with my mom!” Just a couple of months after surgery, Julian is well on his way to getting back in shape. He is riding his bike between five to six days a week and lifting weights as well. “I feel like I’ve gotten my life back. I can’t thank Dr. O and the entire healthcare team at TOSH enough.”