Exercise with a herniated disc

mariainesroque
mariainesroque Posts: 2 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi everyone! I'm writing because I have a question about a health problem and I could only get an appointment for September and the rest of the month will be full of physical activity.
I fell off a horse in February, landing on my back, and my doctor ordered a CT scan. In the meantime I stopped feeling pain, and started working out again and feeling good. I've been doing the Insanity program, which has some high impact exercises, but I felt good and had no pain. A couple of months later I finally got to see the results of the exams, and I discovered they showed a herniated disc, L4-L5. I could only book the next doctor appointment for September, so I continued my routine because I felt no pain and thought it would be better than to not exercise. The problem is that I had to help my grandparents move to another house, in what ended by being a two week event, and I hurt my back in the process. Being the only member of the family that could lift boxes, etc, I did it too much and started to feel pain. Now, it's two weeks to go till I can see my doctor, and ever since I started to feel pain I've cut down on the exercise, doing just stretches and some light muscle work (which I feel that it helps with the pain, that's why I didn't stop). But I'm going away to another country for these two weeks and I'll be having some classes which include some physical activity, and I'm really scared of worsening the injury, and I've read so many awful herniated discs stories that I don't know what to do. I don't want to stop working out, I don't think that it would be good, but I want to make sure I don't make matters worse (I'm already worried enough about the pain caused by lifting stuff up). Should I guide myself according to the pain? If it goes away good, if not stop what I'm doing? I haven't been taking any meds just so that I can be aware of it. I've also read that swimming is really good for these types of injuries, so I might focus my exercise on that for the time being.
And I apologise for any mistakes, english is not my first language!

Replies

  • Beth_Gorman
    Beth_Gorman Posts: 35 Member
    I have the same issues as you. I lived with the pain for years before I finally gave up and went to the doctor. It started affecting my sciatic nerve and went down my legs. You have to listen to your body and when you are in pain take it easy. The elliptical is one of the things that I can use without hurting my back. Make sure to stretches before and afterwards. I used to push my body and would not be able to do anything for a month. Just find what works for you.
  • vismal
    vismal Posts: 2,463 Member
    Generally they don't call it a disc herniation without an MRI being done. I would bet money a spine specialist will have you get an MRI. Back pain can be tricky though. The fact they found a herniation doesn't mean anything. You didn't necessarily get the herniation from your fall. A study was conducted and found that 50% of people, whether they complain of back pain or not, have some kind of disc herniation in their lower back. That herniation could have been there before you had your fall and may not have been the cause of your pain. As far as exercise goes, until you see the specialist I'd avoid anything that causes pain and anything that puts your lower back into flexion (rounding of lower back) like any kind of situps or crunches. Also certain stretching can cause flexion. As a rule of thumb, if it causes your lower back to be rounded, don't do it. Once you see the specialist I'd ask for them what they feel is safe for you to do and what isn't. For the mean time, if it hurts your back while doing it or your back hurts after doing it, don't do it.
  • mariainesroque
    mariainesroque Posts: 2 Member
    Thank you! I didn't know that about the MRI, so I'm going to wait and see what the specialist tells me.

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