I had a similar problem a few years ago. I had an MRI and saw a neck specialist who took a conservative approach. He offered to give me an epidural injection if I wanted it but suggested I try physical therapy 2x/week. I held off on the shot and went for the therapy at the local hospital. Depending on when I went I worked with a couple different therapists and after a few sessions found one who did certain exercises and movements that relieved the pain. After that I made sure I went when she was on duty. Luckily the problem resolved after about 2 months of visits.

I didn't have a cervical injury but rather a thoracic disc problem. I stopped a very active lifestyle seven years ago because of a flair up and became quite depressed. Every time I tried to get back into the swing of things it seemed to set me back a month or so. That lasted for about two years. Looking back and knowing what I have since pushed through pain wise while seemingly not permanently hurting the discs I'm not sure if I should have pushed harder or not.

What does all of this mean to your friend. I don't know for sure other than to suggest that he follow his instincts, which is what the doctor suggested in a round about way.

I would ask you to tell him/her that I know what it's like, to hang in there and that there is a light at the end of the tunnel you just have to let enough time to pass for injuries to heal or the brain to rewire the pain away....I promise.

I ask you to do this for two reasons, somebody did it for me and at the risk of being a downer you don't know how depressing constant pain coupled with a loss of ones stress relief (exercise) can be over time.

Best of luck!

Look for a PT or Chiro certified in MDT....Mckenzie therapy. Also, treat your own neck, by McKenzie, is a good start. I don't have the paper offhand but I think it was 2-4% of people with spinal pain are actual surgical candidates. A trial of 6-8 weeks of conservative care is definitely worth a shot.

Bulging discs C6/C7. A.R.T has helped take the edge off. I'll still have pain but not like I used to.

---

"Failure is only failure if we fail to learn from it."

About 9 years ago I had a back pain problem. During the various tests, the X-Rays among other things illuminated that I had
1. Damamged C5 and this was causing (nerve) problems with my neck and shoulder. Probably from a ski crash (I had too many to even know which one it could have been)
2. I'd crushed T6 at some point (I think I know which ski crash that was :-) and IT was causing my back problems
3. I'd damaged (crushed again) L6 with herniated discs between L5/6 and L6/7

Well, just last week, I was getting back into running, taking it super easy, and crossed a road. I looked over my right shoulder to check for cars and landed on my left foot after stepping off the curb. My back instantly exploded in pain. This same thing happend 9 years ago so I suspected exactly what was wrong. I do that same manouevre pretty much hundreds of times a week, and over the last 9 years, must be nearing the millions! Only twice has it resulted in pain. I wanted to get the recent trauma repaired so I could get back to life/running.

I have taken the last couple of weeks off running, and a few days off work. I'm on anti-inflamatories, pain killers and Voltaren back massages twice a day. It's slowly coming right (well, right enough that I can sleep a little bit)

My regular doctor was fully booked so I went to his off-sider. He's relatively active and knows I am too, so works WITH me to get me back to health and training. The offsider, a woman, simply said I should give up running! WTF? I told her that wasn't going to happen. She seemed to think the pain was a degenerative thing and it took me considerable arguing to convince her it was a single event trauma!

My point? Well doctors are people too and they have their own bias's, priorities and agendas. Sooooo, you gotta get treatment and recommendations from a doctor that is suitable for YOU.

Have your friend take the advice. Have your friend focus on getting healed and not re-injuring himself. Time off is a drag, but allows him to heal all sorts of minor niggling things as well, that he may not have even noticed. Time off from training makes time for all sorts of things like, taking a coffee to his bike mechanic, shopping for new tri toys, spending time with non-tri friends (if he has any! LOL) as well as surfing the net for cool races to go to, or checking up on the WADA rules and other such things that we all say we'll do when we get time. In reality, he's not likely to be off from training for long, so take advantage of the free time and come back to training refreshed and roaring to go (but build up slowly and sensibly of course). For example, I'm loving getting to sleep in, and get home right after work rather than eating dinner at 9-10pm! It's a great and much loved luxury.

The glass is half full afterall! :-)

---

TriDork

"Happiness is a myth. All you can hope for is to get laid once in a while, drunk once in a while and to eat chocolate every day"

Two main problems with a bulging disk.

1. Pain
2. Muscle wasting

The decision for surgery is how much of number 1 you can stand or if you start to experience any of number 2.

---

J Biggs
Tulsa, OK

Do, or do not, there is no tri - Yoda

I had a herniated C6, probably a direct result of spending thousands of miles on the bike. I can still reproduce the pain by getting on a road bike. Tri bike is worse. I had significant muscle atrophy and weakness after the pain went away (after 3 weeks). I gave up cycling completely as it is the only activity that causes pain. The muscle atrophy is mostly gone and I have built the strength back in the weight room. It took about 50 weeks for the nerve connections to repair themsleves and for me to get most of my strength back.

I still run, but not as much as before. I gave up cycling completely. However, I can swim, paddleboard, surf, lift weights and do all kinds of other things, so it is all good. Because I have no pain and the weakness is gone, I will not even consider surgery, even though that would allow me to get back on the bike. THere are other things out there besides biking and triathlons (addicted to surfing currently). Honestly, I was a bit burned out on triathlon and endurance sports anyway.

My two cents.


1) Appropriate strengthening in pain free ranges
2) Light stretching, not aggressive, your neck needs mobility but stability is certainly more important. See Charlie Weingroff for more on this.
3) Try a home traction unit, over the door type. They work very well for decreasing local and radicular symptoms.
4) Myofascial massage is often effective to relive acute symptoms and cervicogenic headaches if present.

Edit: Find a good PT, avoid manipulations at the level of the disc bulge, especially in the first six weeks. Mobilization of the facet and uncovertebral joints are as effective with far less risk of further disruption of annular fibres that need time to scar down.

You've gotten a lot of good advice, and I had the same problem though higher up, and serious pain radiating down my arm.
The above 4 points gel exactly with my experience. Additionally, I had chiropractic done by someone with outstanding credentials, referrals by endurance athletes, and who is a lifelong distance runner (at that point, I had nothing to lose).

Home traction did me a world of good. If you're a cheap bastard like I am, you can even build your own. Essentially, with all these modalities, the idea is to take enough pressure off the disc (keeping surrounding musculature well, lengthening the spinal column, etc) to relieve the pain and allow the body to heal itself as much as possible.

Ice worked well to relieve pain and inflammation, as well.

Over the course of four weeks, I managed to get back into training where I'd left off, but it was a solid four-week break. I still have symptoms crop up now and again (it's been years), but I go back to the home traction, stretching, ice if need be, etc. and usually get resolution in a few days without needing to adjust training.

---

Yanti Ardie of Y Tri Multisport & Majick Juice for lasting critter defense & skin soothing
~ World Open Water Swimming Association Coach & Official
~ IRONMAN Certified Coach (Founding Member)
~ Triathlon Australia Professional Development Coach
~ 3 by the Sea: my Journey from death to ...

Like everyone else has stated its a life long commitment to working around it. I have laterally bulging disc at c5 and s1 from years of running. At age 50 I had 4 months of back pain and stopping running with the exception of the occasional run has relieved that. When I do while not painful my lower back talks to me.

I also have from too many mountain bike crashes degenerative disc disease at c6 and c7 that can cause pain down my left arm and numbness. Doing yoga and exercises prescribed by a pt helps allot. I also have a home traction device that I bought and that is great advice too. The unfortunate thing is while I love mountain biking my neck cannot handle another serious wreck. It pops and catches all day long and the pops are loud enough that they can be heard by others. I have decided after this your to give up mountain biking. My road, tt and cross bikes will keep me happy enough and less prone to another serious injury. Not saying it can't happen just less likely over mountain biking.

The answer is to find the activity that is pain free and keep doing the exercises, yoga and stretching that gives relief you stay there for long periods of time since it doesn't take much to trigger the symptoms again.

This is very good advice. I also recommend a book called Treat Your Own Neck by Robin McKenzie. Let me say, I am not advocating that you treat your own neck--you need to be under a PT's care at a minimum. But, the exercises in that book are great and helped me recover from a herniated disc at C5 and C6. If you do strengthening and stretching exercises properly, you may become asymptomatic.

Good luck.

There are a lot of issues and (mis)information in this thread. As a neurosurgeon who specializes in the spine, I think anyone with a herniated disc and radiculopathy (pain or symptoms such as numbness, tingling, or weakness down the arm) or myelopathy (symptoms of spinal cord compression such as weakness or gait disturbance/imbalance) should be evaluated by a good neurosurgeon to have a complete neurologic exam to determine what therapy is appropriate. While traction can be effective in some patients, there are better forms then the over the door type and PT can teach you its use. The discs are numbered by the bone above and below ie L4-5. There is no L6(rarely, an anomoly) or L7.

Which traction system do you prefer to the over the door unit? Just curious, as this is the primary one used by PT's in the health region I work in.

If there is Lumborization of a sacral level, have you ever seen a disc as well?

"Which traction system do you prefer to the over the door unit? "

I've been dealing with these problems for almost thirty years as a chiropractor and for many years used to keep a few of those over the door units in my office to lend out to patients to take home. Now I have a very expensive computerized "spinal decompression" therapy table which I now have started to use almost exclusively for these type of conditions. Traction has been documented as a therapy since Greco-Roman times and essentially this table is taking traction into the high tech age with its computerized programs. I've only had it for a few months but it seems to be working very well for bulging discs, albiet I seem to see a lot more in the lumbar than cervical spine. When I first started practicing, the CT or MRI units had not been invented so we used to diagnos lumbar/cervical neuropathies strictly on x-ray and clinical exam and treat with manual traction and manipulation and still often achieved very good results. After 30 yrs and age 60, I'm now just practicing three days a week and am doing 90% of my treatments with the spinal decompression table.

Yeah, all good for in clinic care. My primary question was what unit is better for HOME use than the cheap, simple over the door units? The home use versions that have the patient in prone are sgnificantly more expensive, but are they actually better....

I usually order the Saunders Cervical Home Traction unit with a visit to the physical therapists so they can teach the patient appropriate use. Lumbarized or sacralized vertebra do occur. Prominent S1-S2 discs are rarely symptomatic. The numbering issues are most important to the the surgeon or pain management physician for appropriate localization during procedures. No other special clinical significance.

Well aware of this unit but the prescrption of it by PT's around here is near zero. The cost is quite high. It offers better adjustability, and is the only option in patients with TMJ issues. However an over the door traction unit may be more accesible to patients, and in chronic O/A cases without neurological involvment would be both safe and effective.

When you run, does it feel like your neck doesn’t have shock absorption and gets jarred by impact?