Overcoming a lower back injury.

MRI is the best way to assess the current state of the injury.
Then working with a Chiropractor\Physiotherapist to release the stiffness in the back is the next immediate goal .
The Doctor will only suggest surgery if the pain is uncontrollable and is impacting you significantly.
Also note surgery carries its own risk which is infection of the area , cuts in the healthy muscles to reach the affected area to clear it . Also only a good surgeon with good pair of hands and skill can do less damage when operating whereas careless one might cut more when clearing the affected area.
Many people who have went through the surgery still are not 100 percent although they get immediate relief but symptoms continue to show .It again depends on how good the surgery was and also how good post surgery plan was to get the patient back to good health .

A good doctor will never tell you to go for Operation but will ask you to work with a Physio\Chiropractor .

If you continue to work with disc injury in lower back you will worsen it . Don't play with it .

Rest and rest and bring down the inflammation and continue to work with Chiropractor .

Stretching exercises will be the key to gaining back flexibility in your back

I suffered herniated disc at L5 S1 7 years back due to poor form when doing shoulder seated press but I never underwent surgery and battled pain for couple of years when working with money minded Doctors/Physiotherapist but when I met a proper Chiropractor and got a good rehabilitation plan I was back to normal life .

I lift heavy but ensure I don't try excercises which may hurt spine .There is always hope my friend . Don't lose hope but have patience and listen to your body .

Deadlifts ,Squats are probably the high risk excersises as a slight deviation from correct form can cause very bad disc injuries.

If you go to Chiropractor clinics and ask them what kind of people they see regularly they will tell you that most of them were doing deadlift and squats with poor form .

big_jon_1988 wrote: »

I've been progressing day to day, doing a ton of core work, and overhead squats plus goblet squats. Day to day my back it pretty good, but the odd time I feel the pain from something my back doesn't like, usually at work as I do a lot of manual labour, but all in all its been good for the last while. Starting to do more back extensions and even some very light dumbbell dead lifts as per my Phisio therapist.

The strength seems to be slowly returning.

The following video is a nice sequence from Dan John that he calls the get back up. Surprisingly good core work and nice general warm up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0_DoicHg2E

I'm a bit late to this thread, but I searched for degenerative disc disease hoping to find some people going through the same bullshite I'm going through. Nice to know there might be light at the end of the long, dark tunnel.

6 months ago I was graduating to big-girl plates on deadlifts and breaking through 100 lbs on squats. Today, I need help carrying my groceries home. L4-L5 and L5-S1 discs are degenerated, and L4-L5 has a prominent tear that could full-on rupture if I sneeze the wrong way. A bunch of bad doctors wasted my time and stalled on ordering an MRI, so I wasted months finding and tackling the real problem. Now I've had an MRI, I have a great new doctor and a great new PT, and I'm hoping progress starts to happen. But this sucks, bad. I can't exercise. I can't sit for too long, or stand for too long, or walk for too long. My lower back feels like someone took a jackhammer to it after sex. I'm missing so much work between doctors' appts, PT appts, and days it just hurts too much. I'm so dependent on my husband that I have plans in place to call friends when he travels for work. Just... yeah, I want to throw things. But I can't pick them up to throw them, so I cry instead.

Anyway, OP, until you get your MRI there's some things you can do to help prevent your condition, whatever it may be, from getting worse. It won't do any harm to do any of these things, at least, and maybe some of your pain will ease up.
-Pretend there's a flashlight pointing out from your chest and another out from your pelvis. Try to make sure these are always "shining" in the same direction. Don't bend over or twist side to side if you can avoid it. Instead of bending over to get something out of a low cabinet, kneel or squat. If you're standing at the sink and need to put a dish in the dishwasher, point your feet toward the dishwasher instead of twisting toward toward it. When getting out of bed, roll onto your side before sitting up.
-Minimize the load on your back by laying on the floor with your butt up against a bed or chair. Put your feet up on the bed or chair.
-Don't sit for more than 30 minutes at a time if at all possible.
-Bring your elbow up to your face to sneeze instead of bending your head down. A sneeze is a violent event that has potential to rupture a disc. Not bending when you sneeze puts less strain on it.

Here's a visual for how much load you're putting on your back in various positions. It drives home the importance of good posture:


I'm not going to recommend anything related to stretching or core work... What's good/safe to do varies based on your specific condition. Generally, proceed with caution.

And since surgery was mentioned... My doc won't even remotely consider spinal fusion for me since I'm only 28, but he thinks I'd be a candidate for disc replacement (surgery, but much less severe) or stem cell therapy (minimally invasive) down the road if I don't respond to PT. Thankfully, there are options out there. Here's hoping your condition doesn't require any of them.