Herniated Disc?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Injuries and Rehab
1

I had some sharp pains in my lower back after my 5/3/1 week three weeks ago and I finally decided to see a doctor. While I do not have the typical symptoms of a herniated disc, such as numbness, tingling, or shooting pains, the sharp pain has remained a constant. Due to this, the doctor has said it is possibly a herniated disc and given me cortisone pills and muscle relaxers for a week. He said if it doesn’t get better he wants to get an MRI to see what the problem is.

In the meantime, I have been told not to lift, and it sucks! I know I can do most upper body work, but any type of lower body work tends to aggravate my back. I have decided to take the entire week off, as per the doctors instructions, but if it doesn’t get better I need to figure something out.

My question is, can I do lifts that do not aggravate my injury? For example, I do not feel my back pain with bench presses, so does this mean I can still bench? Also, I refuse to neglect my leg work, so what can I do to keep my legs strong? Squats and leg press are out, as are lunges. Any help anyone can give is appreciated. I refuse to sit around or find another type of exercise. I want to lift!

2

Fuck the the dr. Mine told me the same thing. They tell that to everyone and they are wrong. You can lift. Just ask Derek Poundstone he has herniated discs too, but it doesn’t stop him from deadlifting 900 lbs.

3

I will just offer my experience as an example. I had a lower back injury too in January as a result of a heavy deadlift that got just a bit too far away from my body, took more than 8 weeks to regain full deadlift strength. Your case might be more severe than mine, as I only had sharp pain while sitting or doing certain movements. But I still did upper body (bench press without an arch, etc.), pullups, front squat to a box to limit depth, and basically anything that didn’t hurt while in the recovery phase, and it turned out ok and the doctors were fine with what I was doing too. Don’t go too heavy to quickly (I did a lot of extra warm up sets for lower body), do some rehab exercises (like the superman, cobra, etc.) as long as those movements don’t hurt, and you’re probably ok. But I’m just a T-Nation dude with 1 post so talk to some more Physical therapists and doctors and see what they say if it doesn’t get better.

4

Where is the herniation / what movements provoke pain?

5

I would if the lifts didn’t cause pain. I can still do most upper body stuff, and I will get at it again, I just don’t want to prolong this.

My pain is pretty similar. I will occasionally get it when I am walking or bending over, but usually standing up from sitting is when it may or may not hurt. I will most likely do what you did and go from there.

If it is herniated, it is in my lower back on the right side. Typically I feel the pain most after doing something. For example, I can squat fine, but as soon as I rack the weight and start walking, every step with my right leg causes a sharp pain. Bending over and standing occasionally cause the pain as well. It seems to come and go and I can’t always trigger it. I also feel it if I try to jog or run.

6

If it is a herniation it doesn’t sound too bad if you can’t always feel or even trigger the pain- so that said the best plan is to try to minimize further damage and try to get the disc to come back in a bit.

Before I go any further I’ll say that I have no medical certifications beyond first aid and CPR/AED, but I am majoring in sports med and am one semester of class work and an internship away from graduating.

With that said- if is a herniation and it is the on the lower right side (and I’m assuming it’s a posterior herniation because anterior herniations are much less common) it may seem counter intuitive but gentle bending in that direction and traction (slowly and gently hang from a pullup bar) may get the disc to come back in a bit.

How much do you know about the anatomy of the spine and about he nature of your (possible) injury? I don’t want to talk down to you and waste time explaining the how and why of this if you already know, but I also don’t want to tell you anything and have you not fully understand it.

Again, not certified, I just happen to have some knowledge on the subject so take it for what it’s worth.

7

[quote]Rumble Fish wrote:
If it is a herniation it doesn’t sound too bad if you can’t always feel or even trigger the pain- so that said the best plan is to try to minimize further damage and try to get the disc to come back in a bit.

Before I go any further I’ll say that I have no medical certifications beyond first aid and CPR/AED, but I am majoring in sports med and am one semester of class work and an internship away from graduating.

With that said- if is a herniation and it is the on the lower right side (and I’m assuming it’s a posterior herniation because anterior herniations are much less common) it may seem counter intuitive but gentle bending in that direction and traction (slowly and gently hang from a pullup bar) may get the disc to come back in a bit.

How much do you know about the anatomy of the spine and about he nature of your (possible) injury? I don’t want to talk down to you and waste time explaining the how and why of this if you already know, but I also don’t want to tell you anything and have you not fully understand it.

Again, not certified, I just happen to have some knowledge on the subject so take it for what it’s worth.[/quote]

Thanks for your advice. I am vaguely familiar with the anatomy and what I have seen online. From what I understand, there are sponge like discs which rest between each vertebrae to provide some protection. When a disc is herniated, the spine has pushed the disc out and caused it to become inflamed right?

Today it feels slightly better. It seems like each day it gets just a little better, and where I have less of the super sharp pains, and more of a dull pain. Today I noticed that the pain felt good sometimes, kind of like stretching when you are sore. I don’t know if that means anything.

I had recently bought all my supplies for the Velocity Diet, and had to postpone it due to this injury. I may go ahead with the diet starting tomorrow or Monday and eliminate the leg work or do just body weight until I feel I can do more. That said, I will continue to do all my upper body lifts. Do you think this will be alright and allow my back to heal at the same pace?

EDIT:After doing some light stretching, the pain came back. When I spread my legs slightly wider than shoulder width, and try to touch the floor, coming back up I nearly couldn’t get back up. Then my back will stay tense for a while to where standing up from a seated position will trigger some pain too.

8

lounges and split squats. NO LEG PRESS DEADS OR SQUATS. You need to let this resolve but it doesnt mean u cant make youre legs strong. Once the herniation is dealt with youll be able to squat and dead again but for now its gonna take time to heal and u need to find specifics. Get an MRI done now.

9

[quote]bignate wrote:
lounges and split squats. NO LEG PRESS DEADS OR SQUATS. You need to let this resolve but it doesnt mean u cant make youre legs strong. Once the herniation is dealt with youll be able to squat and dead again but for now its gonna take time to heal and u need to find specifics. Get an MRI done now. [/quote]

X 1 MILLION

my MRI still didn’t show the full picture, but it did show the herniation and that it wasn’t going away after almost a year of PT and many other conservative therapies. One thing they did find on mine (that won’t show on an MRI) was a large amount of debris that was causing irritation as well.

I ended up going the surgery route, it may not be for everybody but for my career and my hapiness (along with my families because I was miserable) it had to be done.

10

I saw the ortho today and he said he thinks it is my SI joint and not a herniated disc. He did x-rays and said my spine looks fine, and my hips look good too. He said for now, I can take some NSAIDs and ice it if it helps, otherwise it just takes time. He also said to just push through the pain on a daily basis and that I wouldn’t injure it any further by just lightly working out. For the time being, I will focus on core work and upper body. I will do light leg work if possible, but I may hold off until the pain subsides.

Anyone have any experience with this? Also, I was going to do the Velocity Diet, and was curious if the lowered calories would slow the healing time down? Can caloric restriction slow the healing of something like this, or would I be alight getting on the diet, and simply substituting some leg lifts for those I cannot do?

11

where in colorado are you?

12

Just a suggestion. Buy a Teeter. I own one and it is awesome! I can literally feel my spine decompressing when I am fully inverted. I use it especially after Squat and Deadlift workouts. My friend had a herniated disc and I let him use it and his pain disappeared. He can squat and DL like it never happened.

Also @Colinazzam I have read research (don’t remember where looong time ago) that if you are sick, or trying to heal an injury BMR does increase by as much as 20%-30% (maybe even more depending on severity) so therefore your caloric needs do increase. So if you want to do the velocity diet, caloric restriction can slow the healing. I’m sure you can still do the diet if you just take into account the slightly higher caloric needs to support the healing of an injury.

13

[quote]colinazzam wrote:
I saw the ortho today and he said he thinks it is my SI joint and not a herniated disc. He did x-rays and said my spine looks fine, and my hips look good too. He said for now, I can take some NSAIDs and ice it if it helps, otherwise it just takes time. He also said to just push through the pain on a daily basis and that I wouldn’t injure it any further by just lightly working out. For the time being, I will focus on core work and upper body. I will do light leg work if possible, but I may hold off until the pain subsides.

Anyone have any experience with this? Also, I was going to do the Velocity Diet, and was curious if the lowered calories would slow the healing time down? Can caloric restriction slow the healing of something like this, or would I be alight getting on the diet, and simply substituting some leg lifts for those I cannot do? [/quote]

Does any of your pain go down your legs (either one) at all, and do you have any numbness or tingling? (sorry if you mentioned this already)

If so where exactly is the pain in your leg?

14

I live in Englewood.

[quote]Just a suggestion. Buy a Teeter. I own one and it is awesome! I can literally feel my spine decompressing when I am fully inverted. I use it especially after Squat and Deadlift workouts. My friend had a herniated disc and I let him use it and his pain disappeared. He can squat and DL like it never happened.

Also @Colinazzam I have read research (don’t remember where looong time ago) that if you are sick, or trying to heal an injury BMR does increase by as much as 20%-30% (maybe even more depending on severity) so therefore your caloric needs do increase. So if you want to do the velocity diet, caloric restriction can slow the healing. I’m sure you can still do the diet if you just take into account the slightly higher caloric needs to support the healing of an injury.[/quote]

Thanks for the suggestion. I will look into that as I love my deadlifts and squat. If it helps with this, it would be a godsend!

I may also wait to do the diet until I feel like I can move better. Right now I am so anxious to do it, but my back may not cooperate and I wouldn’t want that to cause me to fail.

[quote]Does any of your pain go down your legs (either one) at all, and do you have any numbness or tingling? (sorry if you mentioned this already)

If so where exactly is the pain in your leg?[/quote]

Nope, no pain, numbness or tingling in the legs. The pain is isolated in the lower right part of my back, where my spine meets my hips. It is sharp and quick and seems to cause some muscle spasms. Doc asked me the same thing, and also had me move my legs in different ways to try to trigger the pain. At this point, he does not think it is a disc issue. Without and MRI we can’t be certain, but I don’t have any of the tell tale symptoms of a disc herniation. He made it a point to tell me that if it were a herniated disc, our conversation would be much different.

15

I got a few herniated discs. The low one is easier than the neck one to train. Rest is not helpful. what i did was to stabilize the torso with multi directional exercises,or general physical preparedness.I used chains and slings, for cranes(the material does not create friction with the skin so is ideal for the purpose)

Using the whole body in directional training with the torso fully utilized in a static contraction while requiring large amounts of oxygen exercises the core best. The actions are all concentric. Walking forward presses; one chain and sling in each hand weight to the rear, walking forward in a low walk with arms and legs moving in sync.

Backward rowing; a sling and chain set up in each hand(this action can take more weight with me)and walk backwards rowing, make sure knees are bent. Side drags using a “carioca” foot pattern with just one hand loaded and dragging the weight sideways. These have rehabbed myself and a couple of friends. Speed is the factor to use for loading at first slow then fast then combine em, use em after other exercises. Check with your Doc first though?

16

colinazzam - Don’t be afraid to take a couple of weeks off or even a month (from ALL LIFTING, not just lower body). A lot of lifters (usually young ones) get some type of insecure, paranoia about getting weak by just taking a few weeks off. This is all in your head. The strength game is a long term quest.

Don’t worry about what is happening to your strength over the next couple of weeks, worry about where it is going to be in a year or 2. If you end up doing something dumb due to ego now, you are only going to make yourself weaker in the long run.

17

[quote]colinazzam wrote:

I live in Englewood.

[quote]Just a suggestion. Buy a Teeter. I own one and it is awesome! I can literally feel my spine decompressing when I am fully inverted. I use it especially after Squat and Deadlift workouts. My friend had a herniated disc and I let him use it and his pain disappeared. He can squat and DL like it never happened.

Also @Colinazzam I have read research (don’t remember where looong time ago) that if you are sick, or trying to heal an injury BMR does increase by as much as 20%-30% (maybe even more depending on severity) so therefore your caloric needs do increase. So if you want to do the velocity diet, caloric restriction can slow the healing. I’m sure you can still do the diet if you just take into account the slightly higher caloric needs to support the healing of an injury.[/quote]

Thanks for the suggestion. I will look into that as I love my deadlifts and squat. If it helps with this, it would be a godsend!

I may also wait to do the diet until I feel like I can move better. Right now I am so anxious to do it, but my back may not cooperate and I wouldn’t want that to cause me to fail.

[quote]Does any of your pain go down your legs (either one) at all, and do you have any numbness or tingling? (sorry if you mentioned this already)

If so where exactly is the pain in your leg?[/quote]

Nope, no pain, numbness or tingling in the legs. The pain is isolated in the lower right part of my back, where my spine meets my hips. It is sharp and quick and seems to cause some muscle spasms. Doc asked me the same thing, and also had me move my legs in different ways to try to trigger the pain. At this point, he does not think it is a disc issue. Without and MRI we can’t be certain, but I don’t have any of the tell tale symptoms of a disc herniation. He made it a point to tell me that if it were a herniated disc, our conversation would be much different. [/quote]

Take some time off from all lifting (like another poster suggested maybe up to a month). Do lots of walking to keep some physical fitness going and work on core strength. Give the body some time to heal, I know it’s tough to do but being forced to take the time off isn’t much better.

18

Piggybacking on whats been said already…

Make sure you’re doing appropriate core work though- if you just bang out flexion based exercises and you have a posterior herniation it will do nothing but make it worse.

The intervertebral discs can be thought of as a jelly filled donut, if you exert pressure on one side then the filling is going to migrate elsewhere and be under a higher pressure. That is exactly what causes a herniation to begin with.

It’s going to be confusing and long to type out so I’m going to post a video of this.

I personally would continue to exercise to my ability and do things that don’t hurt, switch to open chain movements for legs for a while, start to incorporate core stability work in all planes and drop the hammer on me upper body. That’s just me though.

19

[quote]Rumble Fish wrote:
Piggybacking on whats been said already…

Make sure you’re doing appropriate core work though- if you just bang out flexion based exercises and you have a posterior herniation it will do nothing but make it worse.

The intervertebral discs can be thought of as a jelly filled donut, if you exert pressure on one side then the filling is going to migrate elsewhere and be under a higher pressure. That is exactly what causes a herniation to begin with.

It’s going to be confusing and long to type out so I’m going to post a video of this.

I personally would continue to exercise to my ability and do things that don’t hurt, switch to open chain movements for legs for a while, start to incorporate core stability work in all planes and drop the hammer on me upper body. That’s just me though.[/quote]

Thanks for the replies. My back is getting much better everyday. It certainly isn’t 100%, but my range of motion and movement ability has increased drastically and now when I get pain, it is much more mild. I begin the V-Diet tomorrow and my plan is to lift, but to do so with lifts that cause no pain. If there is pain, I will quit that lift. For the time being, no squats or deadlifts, so I will substitute leg extensions and curls with pull ups.

I am of the same mind as you, I am going to lift to the best of my ability. I have been out of the weight room for too long, and I hate it. What are open chain movements? The hammer will be dropped on the upper body.

20

Open chain movement is when the moving limb is not fixed in place and is allowed to rotate and glide (though those actions may be barely noticeable). Like a leg extension where your lower leg/foot are allowed to move through the range of motions they need to to allow for full knee extension as opposed to a squat where your leg is fixed to the ground and those small movements (rotation and gliding) are not entirely available at the normal spots so another joint has to compensate.

So you’re on track being that you had already planned on doing that. Glad to hear you’re pain is getting better, I deal with back pain every day so I know how frustrating it can be.