Hello I slipped a disc at L5 S1 2 years ago and it has got worse recently after I slipped it further unning for a bus(before that weights/squats etc only mild discomfort).
Has anyone comeback from this 100% or close to? I can’t use steroids, so short of busting my ass can’t get the old physique I had.
Any advice on treatments etc appreciated, this getting me so depressed it is untrue.
(This is “my” reply, recopied from a similar post a few weeks back.)
…11 -1/2 years ago I herniated L5 and S1 and tore my right sacral joint.
I actually lost use of my legs for over a week…Talk about atrophy!
It took more than a few years to gain back normalcy…My legs looked
so pathetic that all my practitioners(chiropractor, myotherapist and physical
therapist) said they felt sorry for me!..Well, no one feels sorry for me now!
Yep, no matter where I train, people always stop me and ask “How the hell
did you ever develop such an incredible pair of legs, especially those
hamstrings!” The funny thing is my hamstrings were the part most
atrophied by the injury!..Well, muscle memory is not a myth!..once I got the
ball rolling (after more than a few years of pain and misery and total failure)
I look and feel better than I could have ever imagined!!!
My advice is “Believe!”…Oh, it takes time, but it can and will happen!
The first real exercise that started the ball rolling for me 7 years ago was
1 legged squats on the Smith-machine (with the rear foot elevated).
This is a highly underrated movement… Next was lite dumbbell
stiff-legged deads…This eventually progressed to heavy stiff-legged
and regular deadlifts which I do today… My next big piece of advice is
to ice your lowback sciatic nerve after exercising or riding in a car.
(This is crucial!) Good luck and have faith!.. Joey Z.
(Shogun, stay tuned for more info later, I have to get my ass to the gym
and reek havoc !)
Joey, did you use any AAS? That’s the thing I can’t use them, but had a model size build before. Why did you use one legged squats as uneven strength on each leg?
Thanks alot for info, do you know of any websites with advice? I am going to docs to push this further, I am sick of useless physios. 7 years man you are a braver man than me, my life has gone down the pan since not being able to train…
Not enought information to help…answer these questions:
Do you have confirmed herniated or bulging disc from MRI ? - there is a difference between disc bulge and herniation.
What are your symptoms? be detailed.
Is pain isolated to your back, leg, etc.?
Do you have a positive straight leg raise?
Numbness or tingling?
Specific weakness? i.e., weak big toe, weak dorsiflexion.
Do symptoms decrease when you lay on your belly propped up on your elbows?
Have you seen a PT/chiro/MD?
Your mechanism of reinjury is atypical for a disc injury/reinjury. There are a lot of things that can mimick a disc injury (piriformis syndrom, sacroiliac injury, muscle imbalances). Post your answers and I’ll try to help as much as I can. If it is not a herniated disc you’ve got a good shot at a comeback.
Shogun, the books that I found most beneficial were “Mind Over
Back Pain” and the follow-up “Healing Back Pain”…They were written
by Dr. James Sarno and are a MUST READ!.. Dr. Sarno, a back
surgeon, deals with the mental aspect of chronic back pain…His premise
revolves around the body and its propensity to memorize the symptoms
of the injury long after the back is healed; this can’t be emphasized
enough! Just as your body retains in memory how to ride a bike even after
many years of not riding, it also memorizes the back condition long after the
incident…He speaks in depth about how the mind affects the body and how
stress triggers a never ending cycle of pain and spasm!..Stress and anxiety
cause the body to tighten up, which squeezes on nerve endings within the
body; the back contains “MANY” of the these nerve endings. Plus, the sciatic
nerve being the biggest nerve in the body gets hit the hardest. …Here is his
web site http://www.healingbackpain.com/ You can get these books at Yahoo,
or any major book store…I would rate them a 10 !..As far as 1-legged squats go,
“ironic,” another board member, wanted to know what was the best mass
building leg movement that he could do while causing him the least back pain;
and this filled the bill perfectly…I have been lifting “HEAVY” for the past 5-1/2
years, and the back injury is only a memory! Before the injury, I had 15 years of
training under my belt…Finally, at age 39, I look as I did at 26… minus a lot of
hair (ha-ha !)…Until next time, (Joey Z.)
OK thanks Bill this is the imaging report, degenreative changes at L5/S1 which shows a degree of disc dehydration and disc space narrowing. There is a minimal central disc protrusion at L5/S1 but no evidence of neural compression. High signal within the posterior annulus at this level indicates a degenerate fissure.Normal dimensios to the central canal and exit foramen. The reaming discs appear nrmal. There is no evidence of a spondylolysis and no evidence of abnormal contrast enhancement in the region of the pars interarticularis. My symptons were a burning down my right glute, hamstring to my shin, with origianally a little loss of movement/co-ordination and strength in the glute, ham and calf. Straight leg raise is fine, no weakness in toes. Now after sitting alot for 7 months the burning is equal in both legs, though mild. I think there is still some weakness in the right glute. I first got symptons start of 99, had an MRI 9 months later, my 2nd surgeon - which was mis-read, and electrical tests too which came up empty, i then saw my 5th PT who manipulated my back and the sciatica improved dramatically. I had been running round like a headless chicken moving and dropping out of uni etc. The start of 2000 i had no sciatica, except after cardio and started leg pressing squatting, i would get mild sciatica for a few days after but got back to 300lb squats etc. In Nov 2000 I ran for a bus and after which got alot more sciatica in the groin glute area and weakness in my right leg. January 2001 got a 2nd MRI with another doc - the report above. I was seeing the PT the orthopaedic surgeon held in high regard but it is a few hours away now. To be honest al the treatment has been up in the air as I have bad depression and left university because of this and shoulder problems/ drinking heavily, sad but weight-lifting is everything to me. I am about to return to a new university in September so don’t know the doctors etc, and am very dis-organised as have only just started to try and pull myself together. Using steroids isn’t really an option, I can’t tolerate them. Thanks alot for your help
OK…let me preface this by saying that you need to see a PT directly for eval and Rx. Without examining you this is a best guees if you know what I mean. I’m not a radiologist so your MRI leaves a couple questions in my mind but I’ll check with a couple of docs tomorrow who are more knowledgeable. The fact that there appears to be no neural entrapments in the spine is a good thing. However, the evidence of the small posterior herniation requires attention. If you’ve been to PT 5 times I hope they taught you to do prone extension exercises. Get on them. In fact the last exercise you should do when you train should be your prone press ups. Sitting by the way is worst thing you could be doing. Disc pressures are greater and the pressure tends to be on the anterior aspect of the disc which emphasizes a posterior migration of disc material. Not a good thing in your case. Work on maintaining a lordosis until symptoms get under control. Sciatica can be caused by a number of problems, not necessarily from a disc herniation. The fact that you have symptoms in both legs leads me to believe that your burning sensations are not coming from your back. Quite frequently, sciatica is caused by a soft tissue restriction of the sciatic nerve either in the hip external rotators, the hamstrings, hamstrings/adductors, or in the calf musculature. The sacroiliac ligaments can also influence sciatic type symptoms. If your straight leg raise is negative, my first guess is your priority needs to be on hip, hamstring, and calf flexibility. The bus chasing incident indicates a probable imbalance in above musculature. Avoid forward flexion exercise for the lumbar area. Do not leg press. Most people do it incorrectly and if you do have a flexibilty problem, your pain will most likely increase. Also do not load your spine vertically (overhead press, back/front squats, etc.) until symptoms are under control. The one leg squat idea is great cause you’ll get some overload on the hip and knee musculature without loading the spine. That may help your mental status as far as leg training goes. Sorry this is so jumbled but I wanted to get you some info to ease your mind ASAP. I don’t think you need to panic just yet. Your training career is not over. To review: Stretch hip external rotators, hamstrings, calves. Perform prone extension exercises, especially at the end of your workout. Start working abs in nonflexion exercises. Try stability ex. on swiss ball. Take your time. let me know how it goes. I’ll try to follow your progress in this forum but be sure to be detailed. Bill Hartman, PT, CSCS, ART
Just re-read your MRI…Do you have any back pain? I initally misread your post. It does not indicate a herniation. Start stretching!!! This is no time to feel sorry for yourself. No excuses. I think you can fix this. Bill, PT