I wanted to post and share the results of my Lumbar ADR Surgery that I had in April and share what I have learned in hopes that somepne looking for information may stumble across this forum and find my post. While there is information online about ADR there aren't a whole lot of first hand unbiased accounts available.
I am unbiased. I do not represnt a doctor or hospital and the average person couldn't get this procedure done where I did in any case.

My background:
I am a 37 year old female diagnosed with an L5-S1 Lumbar Herniated disc in 2008 at age 31. I am in very good health, slender and fit. I am in the military and I run approx 4-6 miles 3x a week as well as general strength training. I went through around 6-8 herniations of my disc where it would bulge, heal and re-bulge. I used exercise to stabilize the disc and Mortin to control the pain. I never took drugs for pain. Up until 2012 I was doing pretty well maintaining my fitness and a normal lifestyle. Things got progressivly worse from 2012-2013 and I was told my disc had been completely deteriorated and my vertibrae where becoming arthritic and breaking down themselves where the disc no longer provided cusioning. I needed a fusion with support rods and I'd never run again.

I am in the military and not running is not an option. So I did much research and found out about the ADR procedure. Through a long process with my military medical group as well as the military's insurance company (Tricare) I was sent to an Army hospital nearby to have the ADR performed by the top spinal surgeon in the Army. (This is a long story made short lol!)

I did find out that for most civilians this surgery is not an option because in the US the FDA has approved the procedure but its still considered experimental. If you are lucky enough to have insurance that will pay or you can pay for it yourself read on.

My doctor was amazing! He has done more of these than anyone in the Army and he knew his stuff! I had the surgery on 29 Apr 2014.
The surgery itself was major and involved a 4 inch incision in my abdomen through which my organs were moved around and the implant was inserted. I woke up with a tremendous aching in my lower back but no pain in my abdomen. I never used the morphene pump they had me on but I do have a very high tolerance for pain though so take that into account.

I was walking to the bathroom the night of the surgery and I went home from the hospital the next day although thats not typical. 2-4 days is the usual stay. I was an exception because I handled the drugs well and I was able to pass gas so I could eat and go home.

Within a week I was off narchotic pain meds. Within 2 weeks I was almost walking normally with very little pain in my back but some aching at times. At 3 weeks I was off all pain meds altogether. Within 5 weeks I was running again and at 7-8 weeks I ran 9-10 miles in a week. Now at 9 weeks I have returned to work and my back pain is 90% better than it was before the surgery.

I have learned that my results were exceptional for several reasons:
- I had 1 bulging disc with no other issues in my spine
- I am quite thin
- I am in excellent shape, very fit and muscular with strong abs/core
- I never became dependant on narcotic pain medications. I just delt with the pain as best I could
This is not possible for some people.

I have noticed when I did read stories of people whos ADRs failed or didn't bring the relief they hoped for these conditions seemed common:
- The person had multiple areas of trouble in their back from multiple disc hernitations to other fusions, surgeries etc
- The person is overweight and/or not at all in shape (not uncommon, back pain is a terrible thing to deal with and its hard to maintain fitness with it)

People who seemed to have the best outcomes are invaribly athletes or those in excellent physical shape like I am.

My point is if you are not in optimal condition to have this surgery chances are you may not find the relief you are looking for. I say this because it always pays to keep yourself in shape. It certainly paid off for me.