L4/L5 Disc Protrusion

[cubanmafia]

Results from the MRI show 3mm Disc protrusion in L4/L5. Any advice from any sufferers or experts? Hoping to get this back to almost 100 percent in just a few months. Taking an oral steroid for inflammation and starting some physical therapy.

Guess I'm going to have to bring out the bike and swimming goggles...

[Yoy0]

Results from the MRI show 3mm Disc protrusion in L4/L5. Any advice from any sufferers or experts? Hoping to get this back to almost 100 percent in just a few months. Taking an oral steroid for inflammation and starting some physical therapy.

Guess I'm going to have to bring out the bike and swimming goggles...

Are you experiencing sciatica? (Pain going down the left/right leg from your lower back to your butt to your hamstring then calf (and sometimes even toes?))

[cubanmafia]

No, no sciatica which is weird because the disc is bulging right onto the nerve root, but I haven't experienced any sciatica pain. The pain in my back lasted around 5 months before I even saw a specialist and got the MRI done. It really sucks because I'm only 19 years old, I'm enlisting into the Marine Corp sometime soon so getting this fixed is a must.

[HALOBRYAN]

how did you in injure it?

[Zoticos]

No, no sciatica which is weird because the disc is bulging right onto the nerve root, but I haven't experienced any sciatica pain. The pain in my back lasted around 5 months before I even saw a specialist and got the MRI done. It really sucks because I'm only 19 years old, I'm enlisting into the Marine Corp sometime soon so getting this fixed is a must.

Man this sounds familiar.... Type in 'glucosamine chondroitin rehydrate disc 56 year old' into google and read the study on pubmed. These discs are made up of collegen. Hanging upside helped me with this injury too. I didn't realise what my injury was until 3-4 years after the first 'flare up' a month ago I wound up having surgery (disc replacement) you've done well to get an MRI and now you know what you're dealing with... My advice is don't f@*k with this injury. Leave deadlifts, squats etc alone. Get some research done on healing your disc and adapt your training routine to achieve this goal. It is possible to heal it in the early stages. I listened to all the fuys in the gym telling me it was 'just a muscle thing' and start light on squats and work your way up again...i wish i just took my own idea which was to let it heal and do high rep leg press in the meantime. That's just my take though...see what these other guys think

[mavlax20]

Well I have a similar injury, though I think my herniation is worse according to how the doctor and back specialist explained it (the back specialist was shocked that I actually still had neurological sensation in my legs). My disc problem is L5/S1, and I think I originally injured it in the fall of 2010, didn't think too much of it, took time off from the gym, and when it finally felt better, I got back to working out. I then began to deal with issues similar to sciatica this past summer, and when it seemed that the issues were finally resolving, I built back up. I was doing squats this past Thursday and on my 1st working set, 2nd rep, felt the most severe pain I've ever felt in my hip. I put the bar up, sat down for a few minutes, unloaded the bar, and my right leg was completely numb by then. I saw my doctor, and then got an MRI the next day, got the results and then saw the back specialist. I'm on some pills currently, and my follow up appt is April 9. I am not going to lift any weights until after my follow up, and only if I get the clearance from the doctor. I will be doing some light cardio until then. I hope your back gets better soon.

Also, Zoticos, when you say lead deadlifts and squats alone, do you mean to quit doing them forever or eventually would you say that it'd be fine to get back to them after a certain amount of time, when the disc has been healed fully? I don't plan on doing anything to try to reaggravate this injury and I want to be as safe as possible.

[Zoticos]

Mavlax20 - Hey, yeah I did L5S1 too. Once it's started you can get 'symptom free' you can even maybe not ever have them come back again...but you better believe that disc is never as good as it once was. Chuck a bodybuilders lifestyle into the mix and it just comes back every so often. Depends how much you like gambling with your health over a lift in the gym. This is just my own take from my own experience...I'd definitely leave deadlifts, I wound up in a&e after doing squats once too. At the time I was squating better than I ever had...I thought that injury was 'healed' this was 6-7 months later too. I found I could get a really good quad and glute session on the leg press with far less risk. If you wanna reduce the risk on your back even more go unilateral on it. The last time I reinjured it before surgery I fully couldn't walk. Stupid thing was at the time I was doing 10x10 on the leg press in under 30 minutes with 300KG....well I popped my back real bad deadlifting about 50KG. A concrete beam in a friends back yard... Small injury...big consequences. Since then I've lost 30 lbs and am just itching to get back in the gym! Sure other guys will have their own take on things though, you're not gonna get super aggressive advice from a guy who just got off the operating table hey!

[mavlax20]

I see what you mean. I can handle doing weighted pull ups instead of deadlifts, however I have began to enjoy my deadlifts again as my lifts were going up. It's going to be tough to find something that will fully replace squats, and I usually follow squats with leg press. I guess I could always bring back step ups. I do lunges, just not that often because I flat out hate that exercise. Obviously health is more important than a lift or two in the gym. I fully see what you're saying, and I might start incorporating unilateral leg press also. I'm conservative in my rehab views, as I konw the risks with reinjuring, but know that it sucks when I can't do something I enjoy.


Well, if I'm going to use the squat rack, there's always barbell curls lol.

[cubanmafia]

Ive had to quit squats, deadlifts, leg press or anything that will put pressure on my lower back, even running. Its lame because these lifts were some of my favorite but because I plan on the military I can't screw around or else my dreams are crushed. Ive still been hitting the weights but just with a modified routine. Been doing a lot of swimming and biking(not on the upright bikes but the "old people" seated ones) to keep up my cardio. Ive lost 8 pounds since this injury was diagnosed which i think is mainly from all the body fat I've lost training for boot camp, but also some from my shrinking legs. Ive been going to physical therapy and doing some pretty good inner core exercises which should help stabilize my spine, also decompression which should help.