jogging after back injury

LiveLoveLift67

I used to enjoy jogging and would do it at least once a week and doing a 5k now and again. At the end of Feb i was doing s prints on the treadmill and then hopped on the bike for 5 miles. Next day i was in back pain and had a severe case of sciatica. It is finally ( 3 months later) not really bothering me much anymore and i want to try to jog again but i am totally afraid . If you have ever had that , you know that is not a pain you want to re visit.

Has anyone gone back to jogging or running after a low back injury? Im not even sure if its a safe thing for me to do anymore. I dont want to re injure it. ( according to the xray i have a vertebre that is pushing on the sciatic nerve ) . I can do other forms of cardio with little or no problem.

60sPanda

Don't even think about it until you have seen the Doctor / physio for advice. Jogging places a lot of strain on the joints and you don't want make yourself worse.

Take to the pool instead for a bit (no breastroke as that's bad for the lower back) until you speak to a professional.

joanna_82

I had a lower back injury in April 2013 lifting my nephew out of bed.
Prior to this I was in training for a marathon.

Mine took a long time to diagnose but was a small tear in a disc.

I have got back to running but only very slowly and it is a lot different to before. I have had to strengthen my glutes and core to support my back but I still have referred pain in my hip and sciatic like pain from my piriformis muscle.

I would get it checked out by a physio and if they say no problems, try a gentle walk/run and see how it goes.

With back problems I think you have to be guided by your own pain levels. If it hurts and aggravates the pain, don't do it. If you can do 10 minutes without pain, then great.

I have had to change my expectations for my running i.e I will never do a marathon but I am just about ok up to 10k so it is possible.

doug_pierce

I have a mild L5S1 herniation with symptoms similar to what you describe. When it first occurred (6 years ago) I was out for months and did physical therapy. I am currently running again and I do the stretches I learned in PT after I run. It still flares up from time to time, and when it does I do not run.

thavoice

I had a sever pinched nerve in my lower back that was very debiliating for months and months. Dr said there was a good chance I would never be the runner I was before.

The more I babied it the longer it persisted. Was trying the bike, eliptical, etc. I got antsy and headed outside to jog and run. It wasnt until then where I noticed a lot of improvement from the injury. I seemed to speed up the recovery when I started to jog instead of babying the injury.