Herniated disc -Excercise ideas

Please talk to a physical therapist to get appropriate exercises.

Hi! I herniated two discs (L4-L5) last November...I understand your pain, emotionally and physically. I came across this post while looking to find someone who has been able to begin a lifting routine with similar issues to ours...it is hard to find anything on the subject!

I apologize for the length of this...I hope it helps.

Not exercising sucks...I kept my weight down by strict dieting since I was no longer running or lifting. I've actually lost weight in the process but I think it was just muscle melting off from lack of use...UGH.

After the initial month or so of being unable to move post-injury I had to do something, so I slowly began incorporating yoga; i.e. laying on the floor crying because of pain and frustration. But I kept at it, and eventually patched together a 30 minute routine that focuses on back flexibility and core strength that I do every morning (I mostly learned from Rodney Yee videos). I don't think I would be anywhere near as healed as I am today without it. I now have slowly been adding resistance bands to build and strengthen my stabilizer muscles (they also help my crappy knees), and have even been able to walk/jog a few miles 3 days a week. Now this has taken me nearly a year to get to this point with a few major fails along the way (going to hard too fast)...I feel strong now and I'm nearly pain free, I hope to find a lifting routine to get back in the game but it is pretty much starting at square one, and I've been unable to find one for people who are recovering from disc injuries.

As for pain management I tried everything...painkillers, drugs specifically for nerve pain, anti-inflammatories, muscle relaxers; they were hardly working. Finally at a friend's suggestion I went to see a kinesiologist and he changed my life. He incorporates chiropractic methods, chinese medicine, reflexology, and physical therapy to promote balance and self-healing...he even did a gait analysis. The sciatica (as I'm sure you know) is brutal...I ended up having to work through some major diet changes to combat it. It is now completely gone unless I eat the foods that cause inflammation; within 24 hours of consuming them my body is on fire. If you can find a kinesiologist near you, definitely go for it.

I hope you get back into exercising soon, stay positive. My boyfriend was in the same boat 3 years ago and he has made a full recovery (he's back to bodybuilding and running), it just takes time.

As others have said see a physical therapist. Most people will show some disc herniation on an MRI yet many are pain free. I have some herniation and after some work with a PT squat and deadlift pain free. My main issue was SI joint and psoas inflammation ( I was lying on the floor crawling to the bathroom pain level for 3 days).

Sitting is brutal on the SI joint and psoas. Do you sit a lot?

Professional physical therapy.
I would like to very publicly thank Andrea for making it possible for me to deadline my own body weight. I may never do much more than that, but it's heck and gone better than not being able to carry my own groceries into the house.