Suffering a back injury

I had a back injury and it took six months of constant pain before the pain eased up, and another six months before it was totally healed. Even now, I have to be careful about heavy lifting, etc.

Eventually my physical therapist o.k.'d walking for exercise, but I couldn't walk very fast. As time went on, of course, I was able to walk faster.

So do what you can to strengthen your core. My physical therapist told me that if I strengthened my core it would strengthen my back because your core supports your back.

Unfortunately I re-injured my back a couple of times (my fault, doing stuff I thought was "safe.") and regained all the weight I lost due to my poor eating habits, which is why I'm back on here, lol!

So I would do whatever your doctor recommended for exercise. I couldn't do yoga as I couldn't bend like that, which is why I stuck to walking and some core exercises that I *could* do. You don't want to hurt your back again. Your back is more important than any running or exercise, because the injury could be a lifetime, so you want to be careful.

Just take it slow. Ask your doctor for exercises that you CAN do to strengthen your core and do them. Don't push!

core strength. squats, lunges, bridges, leg lifts, bicycles, etc. for the last two, you can place your hands under your butt for support of your lower back, helps a lot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHSIerbp-CE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUNiGFvb0qY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dz0oFaVGuh4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L8BIvIu5pU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wC7Lon6zHSY

There is some other stuff you can do if you have a yoga ball, if you have one, or get one, you can search Youtube for Ab exercises to do on them.

I would stay away from things like dead lifts. Even though that movement is supposed to have low impact, I think that only applies to folks that are healthy.

I love getting adjusted by a chiropractor. That said, I don't think they provide long term benefits. I'd suggest you stop for a while. Get on a good strength routine, and stretch routine, and give it time.

After my first surgery, I walked laps in a pool. After my third surgery, I actually ended up in official pool therapy because my spine was curved. I was walking straight withing a week. I can't say enough good things about the benefits of the pool, but if you don't have access to one, you need to figure out something else to do.

Any chance the recurrent portion of the injury is shoe related? I had a back injury that became a nagging back injury that my worn out running shoes (still looked good so I thought they were fine) re-aggravated with each run.

Try plank exercise. That is elbows and toes on ground, like push up position, and hold for 2 minutes keeping body straight and looking forward. Roll to left side hold 1 minute, then right side 1 minute. Rest a few minutes. Do two more reps. Try this 3 - 4 times per week. It will take a few weeks to feel the benefits of a stronger core which helps support your back.

I've had a fusion of C7/T1 (in 2006), and a laminectomy of L3/4 (in 2009). Before going "under the knife", we tried PT & Chiropractor (withoug too much success). One theme throughout the PT was stretch, don't compress. I would think that you'd want to avoid lifting that would compress your disks... but it's good to hear that you will be seeking professional medical advice.

BTW/ I still get an occasional twinge, but I'd consider both surgeries to be a success, and losing weight certainly helps prevent the aforementioned twinges!

Best of luck to you!!

I had three ruptured disks in my low back, happened in 2007, with a lot of nerve damage to my left leg. Honestly, until I had the microdiskectomy surgery in 2010, I was in pain almost every day. I tried to exercise and I went to PT but it seemed like all exercise just aggravated it and made it worse. My surgeon said after that he had never removed a larger piece of cartilage off the spinal nerves. And boy do I relate to those of you talking about cutting off a limb cause I swear I was ready to just be rid of my left leg with all the cramping, shooting pains, and whatnot (WAY worse than the back pain).

Once I was cleared post-surgery and another round of PT, my doctors just said I could do any activity I liked as long as it didn't cause the old pain. I took it slow though once I got serious about working out and weight loss this past summer. My left leg was significantly weaker than the right and has some permanent nerve damage in the calf especially. My strength training consisted entirely of bodyweight exercises at home in front of a mirror, using youtube videos as a reference. I modified the moves as needed because I really fear another injury. My cardio was walking only at the beginning. It's been very exciting that I've had rapid progress and now I'm lifting weights and running up to 3 miles at a time!

My point to the OP is this: see what your doctor says first. A back injury is nothing to play around with and there were times pre-surgery when I pushed through the pain to engage in strenuous activities like heavy yardwork and just made things worse. I was basically out of commission for 3 years.

Having been through my own severe back injury with a long period of time, almost 5 years, before I could exercise beyond walking. Oh, and beyond doing the specific exercises I was given to strengthen my back. I just gotta say that you shouldn't listen to anybody here who is giving you exercises. This is something that should be worked out with your medical team as your back injury may be very different than mine so my exercises might harm you, not help.

Best wishes. And better to skip this run, if needed, to get yourself back in running condition via doctor recommended exercises than to re-injure and run the risk of a much longer recovery, imho.

I know I'm luckier than some but allowing full healing has enabled me to go back to doing any activity I choose without any problem. Once in awhile, I do have to modify an exercise a bit and I have muscle imbalances that make other activities challenging but I'm doing just about anything I want these days (heavy lifting, century bike rides, starting a mountaineering class, etc.) so it was worth the wait. I know too many people who are on permanent limitations. You don't want that to happen.