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Recently returned from a herniated disc (L4-L5).....

whispiri
whispiri Posts: 43 Member
in Introduce Yourself
Hi everyone,

I am not new here but have been away for a long while with mounting back problems. Last fall I herniated a disc and was laid up for quite a while. Unfortunately the pain was so great that I could barely walk and standing was out of the question. When I was in this state, I had to rely on my hubby to cook the meals. Only problem was, he can't cook and meals were brought into me and not the best ones if you know what I mean.

Anyhow, long story short, I lost a lot of muscle on my left side from this incident and probably gained a few pounds. A new gym opened in town and I am starting to get jealous that I can't go and keep up to everyone. But I now have the chiropractor's release to start slowly strengthening and I am doing so with a modified version of a workout that I got from a friend that is a personal trainer. And I am utilizing my treadmill and soon my elliptical. I love my inversion table......it gives me the best relief. But I only utilize it as a relieve tool. I do know some people utilize it for ab workouts. I hope to try this some day.

I am wondering if there is anyone out there that has had to deal with an injury like this. I would love to here from them and find out more about their road to recovery. This is the second time it's happened to me. This time we opted for no surgery....apparently new studies show that with complete rest now, 85% of disc herniations heal without the need for surgery. Mine has been healing fairly well although I still experience degrees of numbness all the time and occassionaly nerve pain.


Looking forward to hearing from you. Please feel free to "Friend me!"

Replies

  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
    I have issues with the same disks. Mine is degenerative and hereditary, so I have to be aware of what I am doing at all times.

    Biking is better than the treadmill, even the elliptical can feel funny, although I have never had ill effects from one.

    Get a good balance of core exercises. Anything balance is great for this. Also, learn to stretch your hips, as well as the more typical long quads and hamstrings.

    Stick with low to no impact: it has been years since I had a flair up, but I still have to limit jumping jacks, jump ropes, etc. basically, anything with the word jump in it that lasts for more than 20 reps.

    My cousin was originally diagnosed at the same time I was, nigh on 20 years ago. She is slimmer, but never gave up horseback riding. I gave up volleyball. She has been through surgery twice. I have never had surgery. Choose your daily activities carefully.
  • rems2012
    rems2012 Posts: 33 Member
    My mom had a herniated disk about three years ago. It wasn't so bad in the beginning. But as time went by it slowly got worse. Doctors told her to do physical therapy and said 80% of her pain will be gone. What a lie! She went to therapy and it got worse for her to the point that she became bedridden and couldn't walk and gained a lot of weight due to the medication she was taking. All that happened here was that they took many tests (because we had good insurance) and nothing got done. So finally we took her to another country, she had surgery there in like a week. After that, she has never been healthier. She is 100% pain free (beats the 80%). She lost so much weight, about 50 pounds, I think. For you, it might be a different story because yours is L4 and L5, for my mom it was C3 and C4, I believe. But if what doctors have told has been working, that great! I know how terrible the pain can be. Even though I never experienced I was around people who had this. And let me tell you,it was a bad experience. I hope you will be 100% recovered. Best of luck!
  • Kowent
    Kowent Posts: 40 Member
    Hi, sounds like a story I could have written. In my 49th year I decided to lose some weight and get fit. So I lost 30+ ponds on Atkins diet and was walking regularly. So on my fiftieth BD everything was going great. 6 months later I hurt my back at work helping my boss clean out the stored records room. I herniated L4 L5 and L5 S1. And had a pinched sciatic nerve on the same side (right). Wow! Talk about pain, it was unrelenting. I tried everything chiropractic, TENS, pills, a neurosurgeon wanted to operate but I had a sigmoidectomy just about 6 weeks prior and I had a few complications so I wanted to try everything I could to avoid another surgery. I finally ended up getting the shots in the discs that help shrink them. Thankfully after 6 months the pain had lessened but with my husband preparing 95% of the meals I really barely able to move I gained back every pound and lost a lot of muscle tone. I feel like I spent the entire year of 2010 in pain filled, drug induced comma. But by the spring of 2011 I was ready to find myself again. The Easter bunny that year bought everyone in the family a new bike and that summer I slowly strengthened my back riding on flat only trails. I still worked with a chiropractor up until about august of that year. And by the end of summer 2012 I was up to 40 mile rides. There is light at the end of the tunnel. Take it slow but don't give up. You can do it. Friend me if you like. I have two chocolates also, Buddy and Molly.:smile:

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