Ruptured L5 disc

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mikedenali
mikedenali Posts: 181 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I am just returning to exercise from a ruptured L5 disc. After more than 3 months of recovery I am chomping at the bit to get back at it. Have any of you experienced this? What was your recovery time and how long before you "forgot" about your back? Other than the physiotherapy basics, what exercises did you do? Thanks

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  • formerfattyin54days
    formerfattyin54days Posts: 9
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    Walking?? I'm sure you couldn't do much damage with that and you'd get some fresh air?
  • wilsbacher
    wilsbacher Posts: 1 Member
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    I had a L5-S1 discectomy in Feb 2011. I tried conservative treatment, but waited too long to do the surgery. Turns out part of my disc was completely torn off and pushing on my cord, causing extreme sciatica. Before the injury, I ran 3 miles about 4 days a week, and took a spin class twice a week. After the injury, I slowly used ellipticals under the supervision of physical therapist. Started running about 6 months post surgery, and ran my first half marathon May 2012. I still had minor sciatica until 2 and half years after surgery. That finally went away when I trained for my first full marathon. Toes are still numb--I don't think I'll ever get that back.
  • Lofteren
    Lofteren Posts: 960 Member
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    If you ever "forget" about that ruptured disc it will quickly remind you that it is there. I have injured my back before and am always conscious of it. I also work with pts who have spine injuries so that's probably part of why I'm so paranoid about reinjuring it. The most helpful thing that I have done is to incorporate decompressive exercises whenever possible. Try doing as many lifts as possible where you are hanging from a bar like dips, pull ups, chin ups, hanging leg raises, inverted sit ups, inverted rows, etc...

    It is also, super, super, super important to keep your hamstrings and hips limber. When you bend down or squat, tight hamstrings and glutes will cause your lower back to flex in order to make up for the lacking range of motion. If you stretch your hamstrings every day, you will be able keep a neutral spine even when you are touching the floor and this will really help you avoid reinjuring your back.

    You also probably want to stay away from jogging. There are better ways to get your cardio in than jogging anyway. Good luck to you.

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