Hey everyone-
I got the bad news yesterday that I have one bulging disk and one herniated disk. My question for you is this: how bad does that news need to be?
Two weeks ago, I developed an acute back spasm that kept me from walking, sleeping, pretty much everything. Some anti-inflammatories and percoset brought the pain down, but a small area of ache remained, along with some radiating pain down my leg. This led to an MRI, which led to the diagnosis above.
My pre-tri background included 14 years of competitive rowing, which no doubt contributed to the disk problem. I'm told that if I want to row competitively again, I'll need surgery. That's not such a bad thing, though, because I get all my competitive kicks in with triathlon. And the other kicker is that since my spasm subsided, my level of pain is very tolerable, almost minimal. I can feel the disk and there's a little constant ache down my leg, but that's about it.
Is there anyone here who has trained or is training with disk problems? Riding the bike causes me very little pain; I haven't tried running or swimming since my injury? I'd be particularly interested in hearing the advice of those who have either trained for a number of years with disk problems and also those who have had surgery to have disks removed and attempted training afterwards.
Thanks!
I got the bad news yesterday that I have one bulging disk and one herniated disk. My question for you is this: how bad does that news need to be?
Two weeks ago, I developed an acute back spasm that kept me from walking, sleeping, pretty much everything. Some anti-inflammatories and percoset brought the pain down, but a small area of ache remained, along with some radiating pain down my leg. This led to an MRI, which led to the diagnosis above.
My pre-tri background included 14 years of competitive rowing, which no doubt contributed to the disk problem. I'm told that if I want to row competitively again, I'll need surgery. That's not such a bad thing, though, because I get all my competitive kicks in with triathlon. And the other kicker is that since my spasm subsided, my level of pain is very tolerable, almost minimal. I can feel the disk and there's a little constant ache down my leg, but that's about it.
Is there anyone here who has trained or is training with disk problems? Riding the bike causes me very little pain; I haven't tried running or swimming since my injury? I'd be particularly interested in hearing the advice of those who have either trained for a number of years with disk problems and also those who have had surgery to have disks removed and attempted training afterwards.
Thanks!