Injured Disc (with MRI)

Training Injuries
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Hello fellas

Basically, last may, i strained my lower back quite badly while doing deficit deadlifts. After it healed (3-4 weeks), i could work out again but some movements, gave me discomfort in the mornings the day after lifting (squats, overhead pressing, hip trusts, single leg deadlifts) and never deadlifted since then.

Couple of days ago, had a MRI and the pictures are like below. Apparently i’ve got a degenerated disc at L5-S1, ripped a couple of membranes around it and lacking some fluid.

The doc & physio’s, arent particularly dealing with sports injuries and athletes much. They told me not to lift heavy anything, dont rotate back much and strengthen the core. Now i got my football season starting in 2 weeks and its my senior year, so not lifting heavy & not rotating my back isn’t really going to cut and im certainly not planning to sit this year out.

So i desperately need some one who experienced this type of an injury for help. What exercises should i particularly do/don’t, how safe is it for me to play football/ lift again, how far it is from a full blown hernia and will it ever be like it was before?

Thank you very much in advance.

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[quote]outlaws wrote:
Hello fellas

Basically, last may, i strained my lower back quite badly while doing deficit deadlifts. After it healed (3-4 weeks), i could work out again but some movements, gave me discomfort in the mornings the day after lifting (squats, overhead pressing, hip trusts, single leg deadlifts) and never deadlifted since then.

Couple of days ago, had a MRI and the pictures are like below. Apparently i’ve got a degenerated disc at L5-S1, ripped a couple of membranes around it and lacking some fluid.

The doc & physio’s, arent particularly dealing with sports injuries and athletes much. They told me not to lift heavy anything, dont rotate back much and strengthen the core. Now i got my football season starting in 2 weeks and its my senior year, so not lifting heavy & not rotating my back isn’t really going to cut and im certainly not planning to sit this year out.

So i desperately need some one who experienced this type of an injury for help. What exercises should i particularly do/don’t, how safe is it for me to play football/ lift again, how far it is from a full blown hernia and will it ever be like it was before?

Thank you very much in advance.[/quote]

If the disc is leaking fluid, you have ruptured it. The outer layer, annulus fibrosis, has been significantly compromised. The inner material, nucleus pulposus, is what is leaking out.

You should be able to resume strength training down the road. You’ll have to modify exercise selection; and it wouldn’t hurt to pray to the deity of your choice that you’re never gullible enough to buy into some of the horse shit philosophies out there. This includes some very popular authors and internet morons with 10 million posts.

It is my professional opinion that you do not play football this season. If you are referring to what we in the States call soccer, there’s obviously less contact involved than American football. Nevertheless, the risk is still there.

I presume you’re 18 since you stated it’s your senior year.

You can roll the dice and maybe get away with playing a contact sport - WHEN YOU CURRENTLY HAVE A DISC THAT IS RUPTURED. This has about the same odds as the Minnesota Twinkies making the World Series in 2013.

Or you can wise up and make decisions that will better allow you to lead an active and (reasonably) pain-free life.

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You have a small disc bulge/herniation at l5/s1. You can see it as that little bubble between the vertebrae right next to the bright white column in the second picture you posted at the point where the spine curves to the right side of the picture. It appears to be a small herniation - serious herniations can pinch into that white column (the nerves) and cause a lot of pain down someone’s leg.

Most disc bulges/herniations heal by themselves (by healing I mean the pain goes away) within about 3 months even though it will likely always look abnormal on MRI. Most adults have abnormalities like yours on MRI without noticing any pain, so don’t worry that you’ll always be crippled or anything like that.

In the meantime you can and should do exercise in moderation but avoid exercises that could make the herniation worse. EXercises to avoid are ones that compress the discs while your back is in flexion (bent forward), for example, situps and crunches, also bad are stetches forward such as touching your toes. Extension stretches (e.g. cobra position) can sometimes help this type of injury by sucking some of the herniated material back into the disc. Squats and deadlifts are not in themselves bad but they can also make things worse if your form slips even a tiny bit, so they are dangerous too. I would also think tat contact sports are off the table for a few months.

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[quote]outlaws wrote:

Couple of days ago, had a MRI and the pictures are like below. Apparently i’ve got a degenerated disc at L5-S1, ripped a couple of membranes around it and lacking some fluid.

[/quote]

OP, did you mean to say that the disc is leaking or lacking fluid?

As seekonk observed, the MRI indicates a herniation and not a rupture.

I both respect and loathe MRIs in that there is room for interpretation which, of course, means there is also room for misinterpretation.

Therefore, I thought the word “lacking” in your description was a typo (with the ‘e’ missing) and thought that other tests by the medical staff led them to diagnose it as a rupture you’re dealing with.

If this is incorrect then feel free to disregard my comment regarding playing football this season with a ruptured disc.

Regardless, based on the other information you provided, I still stand by my comment about not playing this season.

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Thank you very much for your responses

They haven’t made the exact distinction whether it is leaking or lacking fluid, but as far as i understood, there is a reduction of the liquid by now and not sure whether it is continually leaking at the moment (haven’t mentioned continuos leakage). So i guess it lacks…

Also by rupture, they meant the thin outer membranes (told similar to an onions), but not the actual disc itself. Plus they haven’t made any other tests so probably just interpreting the MRI.

By the way the injury happened 4 months ago and i dont have pain in the area at the moment, just some mild discomfort, especially upon waking up, but after i foam roll my back along with a couple of mobility drills, it feels pretty good, as there is nearly nothing wrong.

Also i’m 21 and its the actual contact football that i tend to play.

Thank you very much again!