Overcoming a lower back injury.

big_jon_1988

Yeah I am going to start side planks this week too I think, I've been avoiding them too long.

I've found downward dog pose to help a lot, back extensions and bridges, also oblique twists.

bbell1985

big_jon_1988 wrote: »

Yeah I am going to start side planks this week too I think, I've been avoiding them too long.

I do them on my knees hahaha. That's how you know there's a weakness/imbalance.

robertw486

Don't screw around with your back, especially for those of you still in your younger years. Get to a doctor, physio, and whatever else you need to do rather than just hope it gets better.

Though I agree that the course of action for many back injuries involved core work, it's often specific to the injury. Don't guess and chance making things worse. Get the Xrays, the MRI, or whatever else is needed to sort it out and treat it properly.

I was told some 7 (or maybe 8) years ago that I would likey not walk without a cane, and/or have to undergo back surgery(s) soon if I didn't protect my back and listen to my treatment team. And I was told that most likely, I would still be dealing with surgery(s) within a year or two.

Now that 7 or 8 years later an MRI has revealed a fragmented disc, and that surgery is probably not going to be avoided for much longer if I want full mobility long term. I'm in a holding pattern of "don't overdo ANYTHING" until it's taken care of, unless I want to risk being on my back, unable to do much of anything physical. But in that time the technology has advanced a lot, and if anything the operation will make me more capable than I've been in years. It's a trade off but time well spent IMO.



I hate side planks too. And some of the stretches I do. And backing off when mentally I would love nothing more than pushing a little more. And only being able to lift heavy with certain muscle groups. But the options aren't always pretty. The thought of having limited mobility, less quality of life, and maybe a long time flat on my back in recovery has a way of changing your perspective.

If they tell you to do side planks, do yourself a favor. Hate doing your side planks, because it's better than the alternative of possibly never doing a side plank again.



Signed,

Someone who was ignoring the problem unless a harsh reality was in my face.

Spliner1969

big_jon_1988 wrote: »

fjmartini wrote: »

An MRI is bound to show dislocated or herniated disks. It's a waste of money and time. I'd get an X-ray to see if you have a fracture in anything. If you get cleared from that ask for a steroid pack. My disks look like *kitten* but I'm fine.

Yeah I got an xray a few months ago, nothing turned up

It's more expensive, and you should probably see an ortho doc to interpret it, but an MRI will show things an x-ray won't. Each time I've had pinched nerves due to a bulging or herniated disc it took an MRI to diagnose it. X-rays weren't helpful. Just food for thought. Even your family doctor can order one if the pain is still there and the x-rays aren't showing anything.

Here's an example of a herniated/bulging disc pinching nerves revealed by an MRI:

big_jon_1988

Spliner1969 wrote: »

big_jon_1988 wrote: »

fjmartini wrote: »

An MRI is bound to show dislocated or herniated disks. It's a waste of money and time. I'd get an X-ray to see if you have a fracture in anything. If you get cleared from that ask for a steroid pack. My disks look like *kitten* but I'm fine.

Yeah I got an xray a few months ago, nothing turned up

It's more expensive, and you should probably see an ortho doc to interpret it, but an MRI will show things an x-ray won't. Each time I've had pinched nerves due to a bulging or herniated disc it took an MRI to diagnose it. X-rays weren't helpful. Just food for thought. Even your family doctor can order one if the pain is still there and the x-rays aren't showing anything.

Here's an example of a herniated/bulging disc pinching nerves revealed by an MRI:

Yeah, the plan is to get an MRI, only issue is where I live it's a year wait list to get one

ew_david

I feel your pain, literally.

I'm 3+ months post op (laminectomy microdiscectomy L5 S1) and the pain I was in daily was absolutely miserable. Going from lifting, running, obstacle races, yoga (yes, yoga. It does not fix all back problems) to just about nothing SUCKED and it affected most aspects of my life. I spent 33 years sedentary and when I finally got in shape, my body failed me. Long story short, surgery was 100% worth it for me and I've just started lifting again within the last month. Building core strength was what my physical therapy was centered around and I continue doing those exercises in my current routine

I started with bodyweight only, which was very humbling. The loss of strength and mass (what little I had) was a total blow to my ego, but I know it's only temporary. It sucks having to strip the bar of all the weight I used to lift and start over, but I absolutely do not want to end up in an OR again, so I am un-learning all my bad lifting habits and starting over. I may never put up big numbers again and that's okay; I'm just happy to be lifting at all at this point.

I'd get on that MRI waiting list and I'd take forum advice with a grain of salt. No one knows what your specific injury/issue is. To blindly follow advice from a stranger could be very dangerous.

ETA: if it ends up being a spine/disc issue, see a neurosurgeon, not an orthopedic surgeon.

Spliner1969

_dracarys_ wrote: »

I'd get on that MRI waiting list and I'd take forum advice with a grain of salt. No one knows what your specific injury/issue is. To blindly follow advice from a stranger could be very dangerous.

ETA: if it ends up being a spine/disc issue, see a neurosurgeon, not an orthopedic surgeon.

Although in my area an orthopedic surgeon was a better choice (the local orthopedic group had a lot of experience, and I had no previous issues with my spinal cord, the discs were simply pushing on it) I'd have to agree. We can all guess all day and only compare the OP's post with our own issues. Bottom line is the MRI will, at the very least give you peace of mind, at the very most, identify any structural issues if they exist. Generally neurosurgeons tend to focus on spinal cord injuries/damage, while orthopedic back surgeons focus on the structure of the back. It's tough to say which would be best in your area but your family doctor can likely point you in the right direction if it's needed.

Z_I_L_L_A

Use to power lift, quit at 34, started back at 46. I'm 51, weigh 255 @ 6'3. I have degenerated disc, what's not is bulging and one herniated ruptured disc, also c5-c6 pinched nerve. I've been doing PT exercises for 3 years in addition to workouts. As long as I keep doing PT exercises I'm good. Had the MRI to confirm. I just work around it and don't do things to aggravate it, like bad form while working out.

BoxerBrawler

I'm not doctor and I don't know all about your issues but I can say that I suffered from sciatic pain for a few years,to the point where my husband would literally have to carry me to the emergency room for pain killers! Once it settled down enough to move around I did a lot of PT, very light stretching, massages, light yoga, light core work and I worked on building strength in my back side with simple easy body resistance movements. Once I felt that it was under control I added some light weights... like 3 LB weights and continued the PT, yoga, massages and body strength exercises. The way it was explained... I'm not going to "fix" the nerve but I can certainly build strength around the muscles that surround it, which will protect it from tweaking or triggering again. I also started shooting 'Just Black Cherry Juice' daily... one shot in the morning and one at night. It was hard because the stuff is like 100% sugar but it did the trick. Not an overnight fix by any means in fact it took about 3 months before I felt relief/benefits. That was a few years ago and while I am always cautious of that area, I've built enough strength and muscle that I can lift super heavy without worries. I hope this helps a little bit. It sucks having back issues that's for certain!

big_jon_1988

I've been progressing day to day, doing a ton of core work, and overhead squats plus goblet squats. Day to day my back it pretty good, but the odd time I feel the pain from something my back doesn't like, usually at work as I do a lot of manual labour, but all in all its been good for the last while. Starting to do more back extensions and even some very light dumbbell dead lifts as per my Phisio therapist.

The strength seems to be slowly returning.

MassarDv

MRI is the best way to assess the current state of the injury.
Then working with a Chiropractor\Physiotherapist to release the stiffness in the back is the next immediate goal .
The Doctor will only suggest surgery if the pain is uncontrollable and is impacting you significantly.
Also note surgery carries its own risk which is infection of the area , cuts in the healthy muscles to reach the affected area to clear it . Also only a good surgeon with good pair of hands and skill can do less damage when operating whereas careless one might cut more when clearing the affected area.
Many people who have went through the surgery still are not 100 percent although they get immediate relief but symptoms continue to show .It again depends on how good the surgery was and also how good post surgery plan was to get the patient back to good health .

A good doctor will never tell you to go for Operation but will ask you to work with a Physio\Chiropractor .

If you continue to work with disc injury in lower back you will worsen it . Don't play with it .

Rest and rest and bring down the inflammation and continue to work with Chiropractor .

Stretching exercises will be the key to gaining back flexibility in your back

I suffered herniated disc at L5 S1 7 years back due to poor form when doing shoulder seated press but I never underwent surgery and battled pain for couple of years when working with money minded Doctors/Physiotherapist but when I met a proper Chiropractor and got a good rehabilitation plan I was back to normal life .

I lift heavy but ensure I don't try excercises which may hurt spine .There is always hope my friend . Don't lose hope but have patience and listen to your body .

Deadlifts ,Squats are probably the high risk excersises as a slight deviation from correct form can cause very bad disc injuries.

If you go to Chiropractor clinics and ask them what kind of people they see regularly they will tell you that most of them were doing deadlift and squats with poor form .

big_jon_1988

I'll be honest, surgery is the farthest thing from my mind. I refuse to get it unless it's dire. I've heard mostly bad stories about it, and there's enough advancements right now in medical science to do with regenerating disk tissue for me to get surgery.

Packerjohn

big_jon_1988 wrote: »

I've been progressing day to day, doing a ton of core work, and overhead squats plus goblet squats. Day to day my back it pretty good, but the odd time I feel the pain from something my back doesn't like, usually at work as I do a lot of manual labour, but all in all its been good for the last while. Starting to do more back extensions and even some very light dumbbell dead lifts as per my Phisio therapist.

The strength seems to be slowly returning.

The following video is a nice sequence from Dan John that he calls the get back up. Surprisingly good core work and nice general warm up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0_DoicHg2E

big_jon_1988

Packerjohn wrote: »

big_jon_1988 wrote: »

I've been progressing day to day, doing a ton of core work, and overhead squats plus goblet squats. Day to day my back it pretty good, but the odd time I feel the pain from something my back doesn't like, usually at work as I do a lot of manual labour, but all in all its been good for the last while. Starting to do more back extensions and even some very light dumbbell dead lifts as per my Phisio therapist.

The strength seems to be slowly returning.

The following video is a nice sequence from Dan John that he calls the get back up. Surprisingly good core work and nice general warm up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0_DoicHg2E

Awesome, I'll check it out tonight.


In good news I just got put on a waiting list for an MRI, so hopefully the wait is as short as the doctor implied, hopefully less than 3 months.

chocolate_owl

I'm a bit late to this thread, but I searched for degenerative disc disease hoping to find some people going through the same bullshite I'm going through. Nice to know there might be light at the end of the long, dark tunnel.

6 months ago I was graduating to big-girl plates on deadlifts and breaking through 100 lbs on squats. Today, I need help carrying my groceries home. L4-L5 and L5-S1 discs are degenerated, and L4-L5 has a prominent tear that could full-on rupture if I sneeze the wrong way. A bunch of bad doctors wasted my time and stalled on ordering an MRI, so I wasted months finding and tackling the real problem. Now I've had an MRI, I have a great new doctor and a great new PT, and I'm hoping progress starts to happen. But this sucks, bad. I can't exercise. I can't sit for too long, or stand for too long, or walk for too long. My lower back feels like someone took a jackhammer to it after sex. I'm missing so much work between doctors' appts, PT appts, and days it just hurts too much. I'm so dependent on my husband that I have plans in place to call friends when he travels for work. Just... yeah, I want to throw things. But I can't pick them up to throw them, so I cry instead.

Anyway, OP, until you get your MRI there's some things you can do to help prevent your condition, whatever it may be, from getting worse. It won't do any harm to do any of these things, at least, and maybe some of your pain will ease up.
-Pretend there's a flashlight pointing out from your chest and another out from your pelvis. Try to make sure these are always "shining" in the same direction. Don't bend over or twist side to side if you can avoid it. Instead of bending over to get something out of a low cabinet, kneel or squat. If you're standing at the sink and need to put a dish in the dishwasher, point your feet toward the dishwasher instead of twisting toward toward it. When getting out of bed, roll onto your side before sitting up.
-Minimize the load on your back by laying on the floor with your butt up against a bed or chair. Put your feet up on the bed or chair.
-Don't sit for more than 30 minutes at a time if at all possible.
-Bring your elbow up to your face to sneeze instead of bending your head down. A sneeze is a violent event that has potential to rupture a disc. Not bending when you sneeze puts less strain on it.

Here's a visual for how much load you're putting on your back in various positions. It drives home the importance of good posture:


I'm not going to recommend anything related to stretching or core work... What's good/safe to do varies based on your specific condition. Generally, proceed with caution.

And since surgery was mentioned... My doc won't even remotely consider spinal fusion for me since I'm only 28, but he thinks I'd be a candidate for disc replacement (surgery, but much less severe) or stem cell therapy (minimally invasive) down the road if I don't respond to PT. Thankfully, there are options out there. Here's hoping your condition doesn't require any of them.