L4/L5 herniated disc - advice?

[gramboh]

Hi,

I finally got in to see a sports med doctor last week and was diagnosed with an L4/L5 disc herniation. Here's a timeline of how I think it happened:

Mid-December 2009, doing a PR 5RM set of deadlifts I felt a tweak in my glute/lower back. It was pretty minor in terms of pain, I didn't fall to the ground screaming and was just mildly sore the next day (this was a Friday). The next week I tested 1 rep max on press and squat, setting a +40# PR on squats without any pain. I took two weeks off over x-mas and did nothing. Throughout January I kept lifting, noticing minor discomfort and slight limited range of motion, but no real pain. In February it got worse after deadlifting a 1RM (duh) and running a 10km race a few days later.

I think the initial 5RM buldged the disc a bit, and then rather than rehabbing I kept aggravating it making it worse. Doctor diagnosed it as being relatively minor, and physio should fix it, surgery is not on the radar right now but I am going back in a month to to re-assess (no MRI at this point). Stupid mistake, I should have done more rehab and stretching and stopped going heavy after the initial injury, careless.

Looking for people's experiences with this injury and their recovery. My symptoms are mainly restricted range of motion in my left hip (e.g. cannot bend over very far, cannot have much hip flexion with knee in extension). Right now I am going to physio twice a week, trying to work a few hours a day standing instead of sitting, using a lumbar pad on my chair at work and using recovery positions to take tension off the leg when I have any pain.

The root problem is that I sit too much and thus have tight hamstrings/short hip flexors. Long-term, I will be doing serious work on mobility before I lift heavy again.

Thanks

 

[bommy261]

stop lifting sooo much weight

 

[brikis98]

I haven't dealt with a herniated disc in particular, so following your doctor's advice is definitely priority #1. Having said that, the advice in the Stiff Lower Back thread should be fairly applicable here.

 

[gramboh]

Yeah that thread sparked me to make this. I'll definitely be doing the type of work suggested there and will likely see a chiro, maybe in a month or two, after discussing with my doctor and physio (not that I don't believe in chiro, I think it is great when done by the right person). I'm hoping I can find a gym with a reverse hyper as well, supposed to be great for creating unweighted traction in the spine.

Kind of hoping Koing pops in here as I think he has had the same injury, and recently pulled new PR deadlifts?

 

[gramboh]

stop lifting sooo much weight

Agreed on that I was aware I was having DL form issues but kept going heavy. Stupid mistake. In the future I will have to be extremely careful with heavy pulling and squatting. Kind of puts a dash on my plans to get into competitive weightlifting.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Agreed on that I was aware I was having DL form issues but kept going heavy. Stupid mistake. In the future I will have to be extremely careful with heavy pulling and squatting. Kind of puts a dash on my plans to get into competitive weightlifting.

Everybody makes that mistake at some point in time. I'm just sorry your's resulted in an injury. There are many more forms of competition that you could get into besides powerlifting or o-lifting. How do you like sprinting? What about CF game-like stuff, where you could just scale/be careful about your form? What about applying your conditioning to things like basketball, soccer, competitive rowing/running/swimming/biking/etc? If it's the competition you're looking for, I bet you can find something that'd be a bit easier on you and would still scratch the itch.

 

[gramboh]

Everybody makes that mistake at some point in time. I'm just sorry your's resulted in an injury. There are many more forms of competition that you could get into besides powerlifting or o-lifting. How do you like sprinting? What about CF game-like stuff, where you could just scale/be careful about your form? What about applying your conditioning to things like basketball, soccer, competitive rowing/running/swimming/biking/etc? If it's the competition you're looking for, I bet you can find something that'd be a bit easier on you and would still scratch the itch.

I've been interested in sprinting although I have never really tried it (I only understand the very basics of form and training for that sport). I play rec soccer for fun in the summer. I might still get itno weightlifting, just have to assess down the road how I am doing. This week has been a pretty good improvement in that I do not really have any pain throughout the day other than putting my socks on, or long car rides.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

I've been interested in sprinting although I have never really tried it (I only understand the very basics of form and training for that sport). I play rec soccer for fun in the summer. I might still get itno weightlifting, just have to assess down the road how I am doing. This week has been a pretty good improvement in that I do not really have any pain throughout the day other than putting my socks on, or long car rides.

Maybe you can go out to a local track? You can warm up with some dynamic movements and get a friend, girlfriend, stranger, etc to time you for 100m or 200m and see how you fare. I find sprinting to be an awesome release on a bad day. It might be a new passion for competition or just a new cross-training tool, if you like it. Can't hurt to try though, especially if you pay good attention to how your back feels.

 

[lothar]

You could always visit a Chiropractor, of which most of them practice voodoo.

 

[eits]

You could always visit a Chiropractor, of which most of them practice voodoo.

no, not even close to "most". there are a few out there, but it's a few too many, in my opinion.

there's good and bad people in every field. the goal of the ecc is to try and weed out the bad ones so they don't make it.

 

[totalnoob]

Go to a chiropractor. 4-5 sessions should really help.

 

[gramboh]

Maybe you can go out to a local track? You can warm up with some dynamic movements and get a friend, girlfriend, stranger, etc to time you for 100m or 200m and see how you fare. I find sprinting to be an awesome release on a bad day. It might be a new passion for competition or just a new cross-training tool, if you like it. Can't hurt to try though, especially if you pay good attention to how your back feels.

There is actually a track nearby my house that is well maintained (the local T&F use it). I've run a few 400's and 800's on it as part of CF, and experiment with 100's. Maybe I'll get my GF to hand time me this summer. My 400's were disgusting, I think my best was 70 some odd seconds haha.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

There is actually a track nearby my house that is well maintained (the local T&F use it). I've run a few 400's and 800's on it as part of CF, and experiment with 100's. Maybe I'll get my GF to hand time me this summer. My 400's were disgusting, I think my best was 70 some odd seconds haha.

70 isn't too bad if you haven't specifically trained for it. Try it out and see if you like it

 

[gramboh]

General update: Was seeing physio 2x a week the last 2 weeks, he has now decided to scale back to one a week. Would get 20min of tens stim and then work through some recovery positions (McKenzie related I think) and light stretching. Pain has improved substantially. I can put on my socks without much discomfort and getting in and out of the car is no longer painful. ROM in left hip is still very limited though, but seeing progress is a huge relief. Using a lumbar pad on my chair at work to reduce slouching has helped a lot. Have been doing walking on the treadmill and the other day I decided to do some upper body work (physio says it's fine as long as back/leg do not hurt). Managed 8 dead-hang pull-ups (PR is 12) and a shoulder press of 155 (PR 175), so my strength hasn't fallen off a ton, and before this I had literally done zero exercise since Feb 15. I'm going to wait another week or so and then probably do an upper body routine (press, bench, pull-ups, dips, push-ups, maybe some curls for fun). It will feel wrong not doing anything lower body .

Re: chiros, I think good ones can definitely help and I believe in what they do, as long as you address the underlying (muscle and tendon) issues which are causing the dysfunction. I think some of their bad rep comes from patients who get corrections, then go back to their sloppy posture/sedentary lifestyle that causes the problem to re-emerge. I will definitely consider seeing one in another month or so.

 

[Koing]

My experience

Prolapsed L4 use to give me savage sciatica...

2005 summer hurt back DL 170kg, I knew it went as it went about 2/3 ont he way up but I stupidly finished it and afterwards I was barely able to walk. Left training for 2 weeks = no go. Left training for 6 weeks = no go. In this time I didn't do ANYTHING that would load my spine vertically, no olifts, squats, deadlifts, military press. The only thing I did was pull ups and dips.

I couldn't bent over forwards without a server amount of pain down my back, glue, hamstring to my left calf. I was about a foot from touching the floor if not more. I could touch the floor with my palms flush without any warming up pre injury . Sneezing hurt like a mofo. I had lost a lot of my mobility

I saw a Dr then a Consultant and got an MRI = prolapsed L4. The Consultant wanted to operate as he wanted experienced but my coach has never seen anyone come back to current PB levels after major back surgery. You just lose mobility...maybe okay for non competitors though.

I wasn't getting any better and I was getting desperate. I saw a chiro that was recommended to me (yes that desperate) and I saw him about once a week for 10 weeks or so. He eased the pain and I could touch the floor again but with slight buzzing pain all day. But a lot less shooting pain. After about 10 weeks he said he couldn't do anymore for me really. I saw the chiro's physio or what not. Can't remember, she was hot but she didn't miprove my back so I stopped seeing her as I felt I was wasting my money. I saw a local osteopath for 5 sessions, he was sh!t so I stopped seeing him.

I had a weekend where the pain had dropped A LOT. It's weird, the pain just kind of died off. I did nothing especially different. My mobility was back and I thought f0ck it lets start to lift.

I started to lift OLift light, just the bar and adding 5kg per week. It was slow and annoying but it had to be done. I didn't do any squats in this time. Just the classical OLifts. After 8 weeks or so I did my first comp. I PB by 5kg in each lift without squating. About 4 weeks late i started to squat and that was about 16months after the first injury.

I've always done a lot of ab and back exercises ever since I started lifting.

Sorry I can't be of more help. I'd try and see a chiro that knew the differenc between a olympic weightlifting, a powerlifter and a bodybuilder. If he doesn't drop him straight away and find one that does mate is all I can recommend.

Koing

Stretching I did in this time 2x a day

Sit on the on a firm chair
-hands crossed touching the opposite shoulder
-lean to one side, hold for 5seconds
-lean to other side hold for 5seconds
-keep trunk upright
-repeat for 6x

Same as above but you 'turn' to one side instead of 'leaning'.

Next one, go on all fours - yeah you'll like this one!
-try and extend your belly down to the floor, hold for5 seconds. Arch your back
-now try and suck your belly in and get your belly button to the ceiling. Round your back to help
-repeat for 10x

I did this 2x a day and it seemed to help improve my mobility.

Keep us updated bro and keep your chin up. I felt that I would 'never' lift properly again as I was not seeing light at the end of the tunnel in my progress. One of the few if not the only time I ever felt depressed man! It literally just broke my world to think that I could never compete again . But I'm beyond that but I'm not entirely sure what happend to my 'miracle' weekend to help the pain.

Good luck man and take car!

Koing

 

[MiniDoom]

running/sprinting is probably not the best thing to do for this injury. It puts a lot of pressure on your back/discs.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

running/sprinting is probably not the best thing to do for this injury. It puts a lot of pressure on your back/discs.

Main problems would be if he was a heel striker. Believe me, sprinting will be a much better alternative to competitive lifting. If he feels any sort of pain, he should stop immediately, as with any activity.

 

[gramboh]

Hey Koing,

Thanks so much for the info, it's great to read your experience and especially the timeline is helpful. I think my injury is similar to yours, I get pain radiating down my left leg and my range of motion is shit right now. However, the pain was never as severe as what you describe. I'm at the point now where I experience very little pain in day to day life (maybe 1/10), I am just aware that my left leg/hip doesn't feel the same as my right, bad mobility etc.

The physio is helping, but I think a lot of it is just natural time and hoping it continues to improve. Physio has me working on neutral pelvis exercises, bird-dog/supermans, cobra push-ups pose etc. I think my hip musculature is just ridiculous tight. I'm going to consider a chiro in another month or so. It does really suck not being able to train properly. Last night the pysio said I can get back in the gym, just take things very easy, stop if there is pain.

Koing, how scary was it mentally when you went heavy on DL again? I never really enjoyed DL (prefer squats and am better at them, I have squatted 170kg no belt, while my best DL is 160kg lol). I don't know if I will ever test my 1RM on it again.

 

[socratesthegrea]

READ CONQUER BACK AND NECK PAIN, WALK IT OFF
This book just changed my life. Basically, you don't have to buy the book bc here's the gist of it. Whenver you're in pain, walk. Yes, walk. I walk for an hour a day now (after being on pills and pain for the last 8 years) and I have no pain now. If I do have pain, I walk and it goes away within the hour.
I wasted years of my life listening to doctors. I think this works better with people that have a herniated disk. Mine is at my L5

 

[eits]

READ CONQUER BACK AND NECK PAIN, WALK IT OFF
This book just changed my life. Basically, you don't have to buy the book bc here's the gist of it. Whenver you're in pain, walk. Yes, walk. I walk for an hour a day now (after being on pills and pain for the last 8 years) and I have no pain now. If I do have pain, I walk and it goes away within the hour.
I wasted years of my life listening to doctors. I think this works better with people that have a herniated disk. Mine is at my L5

sorry, but that's ridiculous.