Missing a vertebrae

I've been having some mild pain in my lower back (slightly on my right side, about at the top of where my pants sit), so I went to see an orthopedic surgeon today. He took some X-rays, and told me that I was missing a lumbar vertebrae. Apparently it's uncommon, but since he's a spine specialist he sees it about every day.

He said that the pain was just from using my back a lot lately (I have been lifting for my lower body for a few months now), and that the pain indicated how I needed to be careful with my back. He said I shouldn't do squats or deadlift anymore either, and that HIIT sprinting was going to be pretty hard on me, since I have less cushioning than most people. He gave me a card for a physical therapist, but I don't have the money to go see him.

So I guess I am SOL when it comes to lower body? I don't want to spend my leg day in the gym doing leg extensions and leg curls on machines. Are there any leg exercises or leg routines that won't put too much pressure on my back? And is HIIT on a stationary bike nearly as effective as sprinting?

keep lifting and stretching. If you feel pain change your exercises so that they place less strain on your lumbar spine. Maybe you can focus on building the strength of your erector spinae muscles with good mornings and whatnot and that can allow you to keep training with no or little pain. If you feel considerable lower back strain or pain take a few days off before you lift again.

I think you can keep training lower body but you will have to give it more time for it to recover and be more selective on what exercises you do and how often you do them based on any pain you are feeling.

Yah, hard finding leg exercises that don't put a lot of pressure on the spine. I'm thinking of just ditching lower body lifting and doing HIIT sprinting.

Lucide,

I think the ortho oversimplified things. Did he tell you that you were missing a lumbar vertebrae? Most commonly, you are not missing your L5 vertebrae, it just never separated completely from your sacrum AKA tailbone. This condition is called sacralization and is not uncommon at all. I see cases every month in my clinic. You are a little more prone to having low back pain than someone without this sacralization, but not much more.

You don't have to nix the lower body workout. Don't let him place the seed in your mind that your low back is messed up or malformed. If you get that in your head, you'll be worse off. My suggestion is to find a good chiropractor in your area, get your back evaluated, and see what he/she suggests. Probably, a short course of chiropractic treatment will alleviate your pain and allow you to fully train your body.

Let me know if you have any questions for me.

Good luck.

bacdoc

[QUOTE=bacdoc]Lucide,

I think the ortho oversimplified things. Did he tell you that you were missing a lumbar vertebrae? Most commonly, you are not missing your L5 vertebrae, it just never separated completely from your sacrum AKA tailbone. This condition is called sacralization and is not uncommon at all. I see cases every month in my clinic. You are a little more prone to having low back pain than someone without this sacralization, but not much more.

You don't have to nix the lower body workout. Don't let him place the seed in your mind that your low back is messed up or malformed. If you get that in your head, you'll be worse off. My suggestion is to find a good chiropractor in your area, get your back evaluated, and see what he/she suggests. Probably, a short course of chiropractic treatment will alleviate your pain and allow you to fully train your body.

Let me know if you have any questions for me.

Good luck.

bacdoc[/QUOTE]
Great info, thanks. Are you a doctor or student of medicine?

I don't know why he would simplify and tell me that, kinda pisses me off. I asked his assistant afterward if it affected my height or anything not having it, and she said it probably did slightly. Guess that was BS also.

You think a chiro would really help, or just allieviate the pain?

A very very long time ago maybe 2 or 3 years ago I went to the chiro fairly often. So basically one day he had taken an x-ray because I had a cheer leading accident and my back was killing me. Once he brought back the x-ray he told me and my mother that I was missing on of my 5 lumbar vertebrae. He basically told me that this was nothing to worry about and it wouldn't affect my height in any way shape or form. He also said it didn't affect the pain I was and am feeling. I personally cannot stand for more than 45 minutes in one spot without wanting to cry because of my lower back pain. The accident really messed up my back and I'm still paying for it years later. But it truly is nothing to worry about. We are just unique humans with one less vertebrae than everyone else. If your back is hurting that bad then I would go to another doctor to see if they can find anything, because a missing vertebrae will do nothing to your back or every day life (as told by my chiro)

Good grief. What a ****storm of terrible advice from a bunch of reds ITT. :(