I’m 36, and I’ve had a low-grade pain in my right hip for several months now. After x-raying my back, my family doc tells me it’s probably a disc injury that is causing referred pain in the hip. He says the disc has probably weakened and allowed the material in the middle to seep out and irritate the nerves. He gave me the green light to bench press and leg press, but insists that I stop squatting and deadlifting. Needless to say, I am disheartened about this. I am passionate about these two lifts and love the anabolic effect I get from them. Has anyone else had to deal with this sort of situation? Did you stop doing SQ’s and DL’s? I would love to hear from anyone else who has been in the same boat.
Thanks in advance.
I’m not a doctor but have had similar symptoms.It could be a S.I.joint strain/injury which mimics a back injury.A good sports chiro or maybe A.R.T theropist could help you get back on the right track.
[quote]felix wrote:
I’m 36, and I’ve had a low-grade pain in my right hip for several months now. After x-raying my back, my family doc tells me it’s probably a disc injury that is causing referred pain in the hip. He says the disc has probably weakened and allowed the material in the middle to seep out and irritate the nerves. He gave me the green light to bench press and leg press, but insists that I stop squatting and deadlifting. Needless to say, I am disheartened about this. I am passionate about these two lifts and love the anabolic effect I get from them. Has anyone else had to deal with this sort of situation? Did you stop doing SQ’s and DL’s? I would love to hear from anyone else who has been in the same boat.
Thanks in advance.[/quote]
Felix,
Not to disagree with your doctor, but a plain film radiograph (x-ray) can’t visualize a disc. You can see disc space, the distance btween adjacent vertebrae. If the apace between adjacent vertebrae is decreased it MAY be due to a bulged disc, but may also be degenrative disc disease, AKA osteoarthritis. The gold standard to evaluate spinal discs is an MRI.
If your pain is in your hip, Why no x-ray of your hip? Do you have back pain? Have you had any recent injuries to the hip girdle? Have you recently changed you lower body routine? Increased weights? These are all important issues? Good luck and let me know how things turn out.
Scott
If my doctor ever says ‘probably’ when diagnosing a condition that’s causing me pain/discomfort - I’m ‘probably’ going find a different doc.
I would rather hear “I don’t know” than "probably.
Vagus is right - what you need is an MRI to determine for sure whether this is a disc problem. I had two bulging discs in my neck that ultimately required surgery. However, the discs in the lower back are a bit tougher than those in the neck and problems there are more likely to resolve on their own.
One of the things I read when I was researching my own injury was that the 30-40 age bracket the worst time for discs. Younger discs are still very elastic and resilient and can resist. Oddly, once you get into your 40s, the discs have toughened up with age and are actually tougher than discs in a 30-year-old. So there is some advantage to being old and tough.
I have two torn discs, discovered with MRI, and I do both DL’s and squats. I just make sure to keep my back set in position. Plus, since they’re already injured, I figure what the hell.
Get an MRI, and stay away from the chiropractor until you know for sure.
In May of '03 my left leg started to act “funny”. My doctor sent me to a neurologist who diagnosed it as a spinal injury. Turned out I had a couple of blown disc in my neck, one of them was into my spinal cord pretty badly.
Even though I still felt like I could lift heavy, there was a good chance of damaging my spinal cord.
A little time off is much better than a long term injury.
Im 20 with 2 “ruptured discs” (buldging out & also at least one at one point spilled the contents on the nerves causing the same problem) since I was 16. I was told to take it easy & work out properly but that I HAD to workout my back/abs in whatever way possible. Although I didnt squat when I was in incredible pain - I do squat & dead lift now, I still have shooting pains & still weightlift as long as its not directly causing me pain. I believe lifting has helped the pain 80% directly & indirectly.
Personally theyre right about the x rays & pictures and such, they finally had to do a series of MRIs to find my disc problems… Get a second opinion.
You went to a family GP for something as specialised as a potential back injury? Did you eat a lot of paint chips as a child?
A few points:
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Your doctor doesn’t know a damn thing about either back injuries or the rehab of these injuries, so why talk to him?
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Your doctor should know that he doesn’t know a damn thing about back injuries and should have referred you to a specialist for diagnosis. You need an MRI, not an X-ray.
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Likewise, given that your doctor doesn’t know anything regarding rehab, and has probably never lifted a weight in his life, he should have referred you to a rehab specialist who has experience treating weightlifters and managing their rehab.
We all know that your average GP is useless in this situation (apart from organising referrals to specialists). Why do people still treat them as if they are all-knowing Gods of Medicine?
Go back to your doctor, smack him, and get referrals to specialists.
I’m fascinated that he blindly gave you the go-ahead to leg press. Was he by any chance 100 pounds overweight and wearing orthopedic shoes?
Had a similar problem last summer. I was at the point where I was dragging my leg around like quasimodo (sp). Stopped deads and squats for several months. Started doing a couple of exercises coach Davies recommends, glute/ham raises and reverse hypers. and a stomach exercise called the plank. I believe these worked the hams and lower back as well if not better than squats and deads. Gradually worked back to one leg dumbell squats, stepping up onto a bench. These were a killer work out. You are able to load your legs with way more weight per leg than you can with barbell squats. In barbell squats each leg gets 1/2 bodyweight plus 1/2 barbell weight. With dumbell squats each leg gets 100% bodyweight plus 100% dumbell weight. Said another way a 200lb man with 50lb dumbells doing one leg step ups is the equivalent to the same man doing barbell squats with 400 lbs. Naturally the back isn’t getting the same workout but isn’t that the point? I’m now back to where I do squats with a little over 300lbs one day a week, deads with 225 or so one day a week and glut/ham raises and Davies “the Bear” exercises for a third workout. When my low back starts to hurt more than normal I just revert back to the exercises. Good luck.
Actually my doc admitted that an MRI is the only way to know for sure what is going on; however, since I’ve returned to school to get an MBA (yes, even though I’m 36), I have only catastrophic health insurance and don’t really want to pay for an MRI if I can avoid it. He did comment on the spaces between the vertebrae on the X-ray, and said that they looked normal. Perhaps I’m being penny-wise and pound-foolish in foregoing the MRI, but I’m hoping whatever it is will resolve on its own. It has gotten a little better since I’ve laid off the squats and deads.
[quote]Eric Cressey wrote:
I’m fascinated that he blindly gave you the go-ahead to leg press. Was he by any chance 100 pounds overweight and wearing orthopedic shoes?[/quote]
Yeah. Unf*ckingbelievable. I injured my back first when 19 on, of all things, a leg sled. Terrible piece of equipment IMHO. (Really, check out the “safety” on your local leg sled. Chances are, it works great if you don’t need it and are locked out, but if you bottom out, U R FUCT.) Anyhoo, doctors x-rayed me and said “strained back”. Wow cool. I strain my spaghetti before eating it. Must not be too bad. I’m slow though.
FFWD to 1998. After several years of occasional reaggravation, I saw another doctor - a supposed back expert and former Raider team doctor. He said “strained back” and prescribed to me naproxen sodium [SIC?] (Aleve) even though it was the only drug that I listed on the questionnaire as having an allergy to. That should have given me a hint that he was useless. But I’m slow, and it didn’t. So over the years I continued with various weight training and using a squat or DL variation as a core of my training.
FFWD to 2004. After finally having the freedom in my life to train hard again, I decided to really investigate the problem. I wanted to get past my old sticking points and become a 30 (ok, 31 now) year old chick magnet. I applied many things learned on this site (Get Your Butt in Gear, Single Leg Supplements, etc) to realize and address my lower body and hip imbalances. I have made significant progress. Progress is good.
Then just this year, even though not injured, I saw THE back clinic in town to get a REAL diagnosis. At the first appointment they scheduled me for an MRI and told me what NOT to do (and only NOTs, not DOs.) The not list: lift weights, squat, deadlift, any lifting while bent over (ie rowing), no heavy bench pressing. Also, I learned that weightlifting is the only form of exercise that raises blood pressure. Hmmm … so then a couple weeks later I got my MRI done. BTW, I was doing TBT at that point and had my best ever TBT day (push press, squat, row, deadlift, bench, pullup) about an hour after my appointment.
Last week I went in for the MRI results and found that I too have a torn / ruptured L4/5. Calcification was noted around the protrusion towards my spine. What does that mean? Well, I take it as good news. It means that most likely my injury has been quite stable for some time. He (a different guy this time) asked me again about lifting and then scolded me after the response. They don’t get it. They don’t understand. I don’t even bother arguing with them.
I am quite sure that each time I have injured (reaggravated) my back, it has been some form or fashion of: insufficient warmup, improper stretching, fatigue, bad form, too much weight, etc. I am using as much weight now as I did several years ago but with better form. I am stronger, and I look better. Several years from now I will be able to restate that. I am improving the health and stability of my back and hips by reading and applying what I learn. My goal is to use weights and exercise to be stronger, more functional, healthier, to look better, and to feel good about myself. Following the “professional” recommendation is a sure way to get to another “professional,” only for some antidepressants. What this world needs is less Prozac and more Protein. There is no reason that I can’t squat and DL with a few hundred pounds. I don’t let the “professionals” stand in my way. I take my way over the prescription of DON’T THIS … DON’T THAT … DON’T … DON’T … DON’T. High blood pressure and all.
Bastard F*ck Guy