Herniated Disc-Wake up call

Wow, that is impressive. Very happy for you. My husband had two herniated discs, and I've never seen him in such pain. It was awful, and lasted for quite awhile. He had two doctors recommend surgery, and a third that recommended PT and exercises. He took that guy's advice and has been full recovered for about 15 years. Once in awhile he feels a twinge in his back and realizes he just needs to get back to his stretching and exercises. Best of luck to you!

I had a disc repaired L4-L5 about 10 years ago. All I can say is that IF you can avoid surgery do so. Start googling "yoga for back pain", there are a bunch of stretches that will help force the discs back into position over time. I now do them daily even though my back has healed, it keeps things where they need to be and keeps me from re-injuring it. As a side note, my first year here on MFP I was walking 1-2 hours at a time as fast as I could for exercise. Worked great, I burned a ton of calories, but managed to herniate L3-L4 and L5-S1 in the process. No hospitalization this time, they solved it with rest, LOTS of pain killers, and steroid shots (3 total that year to be exact). I was down for weeks, two times in a row from walking too far, too fast, too soon after it healed. So just be careful.

Years ago when I had the surgery the nerve was compressed so badly it went from pain down my right leg (the kinds that makes you want to cut your leg off to stop it) to no pain at all, and numbness below the waist. At that point I had emergency surgery to have part of the disc removed. That put me on a permanent 25lb weight lifting restriction that I wish I didn't have now.

Good luck, but just take it easy if you feel any pain returning. Do consider yoga/stretches for your back, and start working on your core now, you need to strengthen it as much as possible.

I herniated a disc over a decade ago (I wanna say L4-L5), when I was just a teenager. I got surgery at the time, and it doesn't bother me TOO much anymore but I still notice it occasionally. I have trouble with ab exercises mostly, those always seem to irritate it. It's unfortunate because building a strong core is a great way to remedy back problems. I'm always looking for ab workouts that aren't too hard on my back.

In terms of cardio, I've had great success with ellipticals and stationary bikes. Running, and even walking longer distances, hurts not just my back but also irritates my knees and ankles. I find stationary bikes are good to ease yourself back into a fitness routine; ellipticals are great IMO because the workout is low-impact and very efficient compared to walking/running.

Congratulations on your progress, you've come a long way already!

Dr. Stuart McGill's "back mechanic" has me back under the barbell and stronger than ever.

I too have herniated disk in my lower back (4) as well as 2 my neck... I have degenerative disk disease, have had it for about 10 years now... the disk in my neck were from riding a roller coaster with my youngest... fun fun fun =( Sadly the tingling and numbness is now my every day life as well as the pain... I used it as an excuse for my inactivity for many years and as well as all the weight I piled on. I have done PT on and off for years and it has helped with strengthening my core, but the reality is my spine is crumbling so I need to get off my fat *kitten* and do something about it. I am one of those crazy people who do not take pain meds so I think my tolerance for pain is really high or maybe I am just use to it and don't know what a day without pain feels like anymore LOL

Back in November, I kicked started a "Lifestyle Change" not because of my situation but because my husband came home with Cholesterol meds from his dr... yeah didn't change for myself but had no problem jumping on the healthier lifestyle train to get my husband healthy tho Anyways, with the disk pain I obviously started off very slow. I would walk on the treadmill for 10-15 minutes at 2.0 and for some that may be nothing but for someone with disk pain this was pure torture. I did that every day 6 days a week, hard to walk when your feet are numb and tingly but I pushed through it. Slowly I started to increase my time as well as my speed. As I started getting stronger I realized that I needed to stop being a donkey and got a referral to go back to PT. ( I stopped going because it hurt just too much, in other words too lazy) With PT and a change of diet I was now on the treadmill for 30 minutes at 2.8... a few more weeks go on and I decide I am going to take a zumba class, that turned into 2 zumba classes a week and 60 minutes on the treadmill at 3.3 4 times a week. fast forward 4 months, I am up to 3 zumba classes a week, I just added a pound class (this is challenging due to my limited abilities to bend over and hit the floor so I just modify) I also walk 1.5 miles at lunch each day and still get on that treadmill. I just finished another round of PT of trying to manipulate the disk off my nerves, so far so good, I still get numb in my right foot but the dr feels because I waited so long to do anything in my life I may have permanent nerve damage... I also have a small aneurysm in my artery to my brain that needs to be monitored but other than a little dizziness every so often I don't present any symptoms. It only took me 10+ years to love myself as much as I love my husband and my kids, but better late than never they say. I don't know how old you are but for me being 48 years old I knew that I needed to make these changes and push through to become healthy and fit or I would be disabled at some point. I am down 45lbs in 4 months, I went from a couch potato to working out 6 days a week. I can't lie and say my back doesn't hurt anymore because it hurts like a mother *kitten*... but what I have changed it how I let that pain affect my day to day life. I hurt when I am being lazy on the couch so whats the difference if it hurts while I am being active?? I still have about 40ish pounds to go but I am determined to get there!!! I am determined to live a long healthy life and run around with all of my future (hopefully not anytime soon) grandbabies and travel in my retirement years with my husband. Good luck to you!!!

After 9 months of excruciating pain which pain meds, PT and spinal injections could not alleviate, I finally agreed to a partial diskectomy L5/S1. I wish I had not waited so long for the surgery, because it took almost a year for the sciatic nerve to recover after such a long trauma. Now, a year and a half later, I still can feel pain in my hip if I think about it, but I usually ignore it. I just have to continue with the core work and avoid lifting and twisting wrong.

Three months after surgery, my surgeon told me, "You're not going to see any more improvement." He was wrong. The sciatic nerve takes forever to heal, and it usually heals from the extremity first toward the hip last.

I hope everything goes well for you!

gamommy wrote: »

I go to my first appointment with the pain clinic on 4/18. I'm sincerely hoping they can set me up with a PT who can direct me to some great stretches that will help. My insurance doesn't cover chiropractic care, but hubby said I can go once a week if I want so I think I'm going to take him up on that.

Aside from what your doctor or pt has recommended for you, was there anything else you have found that has helped?

Be very very careful with chiropractors. Go to a highly recommended one that has been in successful practice for many years, otherwise you may regret it. They made my condition worse. There have been times in the past where chiropractors have helped me with spinal issues, but when I herniated my L4/L5 they tried to fix me and I ended up in the ER that very night with pain 10x as much as it was before I went to the chiropractor. Sometimes popping your back is a bad idea, and that's basically all they do. See a PT if you can instead. Just my opinion.

This thread is fabulous! I just started MFP and this thread is very helpful. I have a herniated disk @ L5/S1 that took me out last May. I was already overweight at that time, but the injury has pushed me into the obese category. After about 9 months, I plateaued in my healing at a place that was ok, but not good and I started worrying that I wouldn't be able to get better carrying the extra weight. Plus, I started worrying about the other health risks of being overweight. I can jog now, but I haven't been sure if its a good idea for me or not. I am taking the 'try it out and see how it feels approach' and so far, its ok. I am also really happy with the MFP tool. I think I can keep my daily goal pretty easily. So, as long as I can hang in there and enjoy the ride, I can stay on the journey as long as it takes.