I was about two weeks in and still looked like a 90 year old cripple. I went in and got an epidural in the spine. I was back to normal in a few days.

It is really hard to pass on any experience that may be relevant without knowing more of your story....
Any previous issues? What symptoms are you getting? Any numbness or weakness? These things can indicate the degree of nerve compression and what the recovery course may be like.
What medications are you using to help at the moment? Any interventional procedures planned? (ie disc block or epidural etc)

How did you keep your back feeling good going forward? Has it ever happened again?

I’m 35. Cyclist / triathlete for 10+ years. Occasionally (rarely?) injured, never have had any back pain before

The pain was dull in center of back. Hurt to do just about anything, only thing I could do is lay vertical for about 7 days.

Never had radiating pain, localized in side of hip (which Chiro says is in my back, but feels kinda back / deep in glute). Super tight everywhere in both legs ... quads, hip flexors, glutes, lower back

Ended up going to PT (4x so far) who has me on regime of back cracking, lasers, cryotherapy, decompression table, electro stim and ice. Hard to know what’s actually working. Been ~2 weeks post injury

Chiro said ok to start cycling as long as it doesn’t hurt. So I’m day 3 of easy cycling

I don’t have severe pain any longer. But there’s a dull pain (almost like a pulled muscle?) deep in back. Not enough to keep me from sitting, just annoying. Laying down on my back feels better

How’s that?

Any scans done? ie MRI?

No MRI. We did do an X-ray , about 7 days post injury.

I feel your pain. I just went through this again last week - slipped going down the stairs trying to take the dog out so she could do her thing (she's 5 pounds and can't go down the stairs by herself). I have herniated/bulged several discs in my back many times over, with the first time working as a roofer in 1996, shortly after getting out of the Marine Corps. I have lost count of how many MRIs, injections, PT sessions, chiropractic sessions, acupuncture sessions, etc. I have done over the years. My life is dictated by pain, and it's a major driver behind why I became a bike fitter. For me, the joys of cycling were overshadowed by the pain.

With all that said, I also do FMS stuff with customers and if I don't practice what I preach, can easily fall back into the dark hole. Rest/ice/pain relievers for the short term and for the long term, stabilization exercises are key - static and dynamic work like bridges, planks, push-ups, bird dogs, etc. are all useful, as well as foam rolling the glute meds, tensor fascia latae, quads, hamstrings, etc. Mobilization of the ankles and thoracic spine all contribute. As triathletes/cyclists, we tend to train our prime movers but not necessarily take care of our stabilizers. I am of the opinion that a 3 hour ride with 15 minutes of work off the bike is more effective than a 4 hour ride. We need to keep ourselves balanced.

Here are some ideas:

https://www.functionalmovement.com/...oe_touch_progression

https://www.functionalmovement.com/...th_opposite_arm_lift

https://www.functionalmovement.com/.../foam_roll_-_t-spine

https://www.functionalmovement.com/...ped_t-spine_rotation

https://www.functionalmovement.com/...ridge_with_mini_band

https://www.functionalmovement.com/Exercises/222/brettzel

https://www.functionalmovement.com/...17/single-leg_bridge

Those are just a few ideas. Of course, a good bike fit is also important... :)

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Travis Rassat
Vector Cycle Works
Noblesville, IN
BikeFit Instructor | FMS | F.I.S.T. | IBFI
Toughman Triathlon Series Ambassador

Did you have and MRI? If its really bulging and compressing a nerve........and despite what you read here about PT, electro-thingies, and snake oil, the definitive cure is surgery. Once is bulging you can't make it un-bulge and it has to be removed to de-compress the nerve. Its just a matter of time. A MRI will tell you how bad.

No, I didn't get a MRI.

I have never had back injury before, so I'm a bit out of my element.

Could I go from unable to move ... to pretty mobile and 8-90% of my flexibility back after 2+ weeks ... if it was a bulging disc / pinched nerve?

My Non-Dr opinion is my hips and back are so tight at the moment. I need to loosen those up significantly, hopefully some swelling in the back continues to go down and that relieves the residual pain.

I had L5/S1 compression that crippled me for months. Honestly, some of the lowest points of my life. It hurt so bad I would miss work and go away only enough that I could function in day to day life but not train at all.

I had my bike for sale because I figured my time was over in the sport. Even after months of PT, massage, and even a trip to a neurologist. I had a microdiscetomy scheduled.

Then... someone showed me Foundations Training.

And within a few days the pain that ran down my leg was gone. After a week I was able to bend over again and do simple things like tie my shoes and put on pants. And within 2 weeks I was back on my bike again and running. I do some Foundations workout religiously every single day. It takes priority over all other training. If I don't do this, I don't get to train. I've had one flare up since then that lasted about a week.

Try starting with these basic workouts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGZlP3jieRI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BOTvaRaDjI

The books are great as well...though I think the first one is better.

Note: I'm not affiliated with Foundations at all. I just believe strongly in the program and I've introduced several other people to it and they have had similar results.

This. Core stabilization work, flexibility, and correction of chronic imbalances often address low back issues as well as, if not better than, surgery. My back pain benefited significantly from: working on low back, hip and hamstring flexibility; slowly adding in bodyweight and low-to-medium weight squat exercises into workouts; and some ancillary core muscle exercises. (And while I'm not an MD, I did work at a company that sells implants and hardware for back surgeries, and that guidance corresponds with what the experts in the company had to say off the record as well.)

I disagree with another poster who said surgery is the only true cure. Surgery IMO should be a last resort and may not ever be necessary.

If you're feeling better after a couple of weeks of rest and TLC, I'd avoid surgical intervention for now.

I'm not sure you have a bulging disc. How did you figure that out and at level L5? Did you get an x-ray that showed a closed disc space? Do you have pain going down one of your legs?

Yes X-ray w no space between discs. Here’s X-ray altho it’s a bit blurry
https://imgur.com/a/4PltwA5

Thank you. I'll check out Foundations Training.

Thank you. I'll check some of these poses out. And when I'm in Indy over Thanksgiving week I'll try to drop by the shop and say thanks live =)

That would be awesome - depending on how your back is doing, maybe we can do a bit of functional work. Definitely look me up and hopefully my schedule can work for you!

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Travis Rassat
Vector Cycle Works
Noblesville, IN
BikeFit Instructor | FMS | F.I.S.T. | IBFI
Toughman Triathlon Series Ambassador

I'm now 12 weeks post "trauma" part of the injury, and still not recovered.

Mine started back in February when I slipped on some ice getting out of my truck. I thought I'd pulled the left hamstring, but looking back on the progressive tightness since, I recognize it as the early symptoms of the L5-S1 disc extrusion that showed up on the MRI in September. But I'm getting a little ahead of myself.

I made it through my summer cycling events, and then started a tae kwon do class with my 6-year-old daughter. In the second class we were doing line sprints, and my back let go. Hamstring locked up, excruciating pain, tingling all down the back of my leg... The works.

Three weeks of chiro did nothing. Then got the MRI. My lumbar spine is officially "messed up" (that's the technical description). Then started 6 weeks of PT, which also did nothing.

Which brings me to today -- I just had the consult with the interventional pain doc last night, and I'll be having the guided injection at the L5-S1 exit of the sciatic nerve as well as the sacral exit just below in about 5 weeks. Merry Christmas!

The good news is that I've been able to ride the trainer through all this, and I've been able to do the TKD as pain and mobility has allowed.

Funny how my wife warned me about pushing myself in the TKD class, and it turns out that running did it...

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Some are born to move the world to live their fantasies...

https://triomultisport.com/
http://www.mjolnircycles.com/

This is the worst advice possible. 1 of 2 people over 45 have bulging discs. They are harmless and part of the aging process. To suggest surgery, where there is a 50% failure rate is silly. Please don’t propagate mistruths.

I tore the disc at L5 and it was about a year until i started feeling good. I’m fine with anything tri related these days but if i abuse my back with manual handling it can flare up.

All i did for that first year was prescribed physio and swimming, plus pain killers at night to help me sleep.

Plain x-rays in this circumstance are a bit controversial. Your symptoms are consistent with what you are thinking but realistically an MRI is really the best to show any nerve compression and what it is secondary to.
It sounds like things are on the improve which is good and there is nothing you have mentioned that suggests that you would need surgery. However, if the symptoms persist an MRI would be idea to help guide treatment, epidurals/nerve sleeves etc are pretty straight forward procedures in the correct hands (I work on a list that does dozens of these once a fortnight).

At the end of the day, if the disc is herniated and you need an MRI to figure out how bad, it boils down to how much pain can you take and for how long. You can't un-herniate (is that a real word?) a herniation. You can only manage it. The cure is surgery.

And there's a long trap-line of treatments that your insurance will require before you get to the actual cure.

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Some are born to move the world to live their fantasies...

https://triomultisport.com/
http://www.mjolnircycles.com/

This is awesome to hear!

Mornings will take the longest because your discs fill with fluid while you sleep. Making them bigger and more "buldgy"