Hoping to get some advice on this problem. I have a herniated disc at L4 / L5 that was pretty rough for about six weeks but now seems to be resolving itself over last week (Lots of rest and pain meds, then McKenzie, then PT). When do you know you are whole again and ready to start gradually returning to training? I really never want to go back to where I was about a month ago…
No easy answer. Every back is different. Do what you can and keep moving. For me, my road bike seemed a little more comfortable than my tri bike at first. Running sucked at first, no that the back was bad, but I felt like I was trying to protect it and running stiff. More of a mental hurdle.
I liked running on firmer surfaces as the treadmill was too bouncy.
I was lucky with mine and after about six I was working out and around two to three months no issues. Herniated lower discs (L5 S1), confirmed by MRI. Severe sciatica pain the first two weeks then gradual reduction in pain.
Get John Sarno’s back book which helps on the mental side where you hear stories a year later " i can’t pick that up it will hurt my back" Everything heals on your body and for some reason people think the back doesn’t heal.
Surgery is a last resort.
Get your spine decompressed… some chiro’s do it , I just taught my wife how to do it so I dont need to pay heh. Hanging off a bar and someone pulling your hips also helps. …powerlifter turned triathlete because of this
took me about 6months, with PT. Now I do the PT exercises 2-3 times a week, or the pain creeps back in…
Pain is your guide… if the back hurts, stop that. whatever it is.
I could swim and bike without issues, but not run.
So let’s start with dispelling some of the myths about back problems.
Firstly, discs aren’t usually irreparably damaged. Obviously there’s no way for me to know your exact situation over the internet but let’s start with some basics.
The disc isn’t a single mushy thing like people believe. Think of it as a series of concentric things bound to one another. If you cut a cross section it would look more like the rings in a tree than anything. The innermost rings get progressively softer as you get closer to the centre. There are eleven of these rings. A massive disc failure will see a hole burst through all rings and see the innermost portion squish out. But in most events what you end up with is maybe a slight squish happening to three or four of the layers, but no actual protrusion from inside the disc. It still hurts, but it’s a 4/11, not an 11/11 for how bad it is.
Biological healing takes some time. Imagine I cut you with a knife. That cut will take a few days to scab up, and a couple of weeks to get really crunchy and get some good healing going on. Over a few more weeks that scab will fall off and you’ll have intact skin, although soft skin, where the scab was. Add a few more weeks and you’re back to normal. Anytime you do something dumb and rip the scab you slow down the healing. That process, even with most back injuries is about 6-8 weeks. (And do you think it’s any coincidence that most "professionals’ will tell you to come see them for six weeks? Because your own body will heal just about anything in that timer, as long as it hasn’t been an 11/11 injury).
So, if the injury wasn’t an 11/11 the chances are that after 6-8 weeks you can return to training and the healing is done. One of the weird things that causes disc injuries is spending too much time in flexion - that’s sitting or riding to you. But when you hurt yourself going into extension will hurt. Here’s the thing - flexion is our panic position. It’s the fetal curl up when danger presents itself. Even though this is what hurt you your body will happily go to flexion when you hurt a disc. But you need to avoid it. Spend time only standing or lying on your belly. Perform lots and lots of standing and lying extensions - 100s of reps daily - to get everything moving correctly again. And then always retest yourself to make sure you have a normal range of extension before you ride or run.
If no pain, and normal range is present then add strength. Start with deadlifts, and don’t be shy with weight. Once strength has been regained then focus on strength endurance with kettlebell swings. The primary mechanism for back injury is not lack of strength but one of strength endurance so this too needs to be regained or improved. For mobility work bridge and twist to help keep the range you gained during the initial rehab phase.
For the record I had a slight disc injury last year post IM. I was just too stiff still and had to go through all the above. I’m now back to doing DLs with over 1.5x bw and I swing anything up to 64kg of kbs at 84kg bw.
I hope that helps 
I ruptured L5S1/L3-4 late 2009 confirmed with film. Did some PT at the direction of the MD but, got back on the bike after a month and re-injured the discs. I did this 2 more times in 2010 with the last being injury in September! So 4 disc injuries in less than a year!
Long story short, I found an excellent PT who helped me strengthen muscles associated with stabilizing the spine. Basically, I spent the next 9 months doing PT 5-8 hours/week before I started riding again. A full routine was around 800 reps of various exercises and holds that balanced L/R, top to bottom and side to side as well as strengthen muscles not previously engaged. I really don’t know if I needed to stay off the bike that long but, like you I never want to experience that level of pain which was debilitation and relentless (10 out of 10)!
If it were me I’d spend (at least) another 8 weeks doing work directed by a PT before thinking about riding. JMO/E
I herniated L5/S1 too.
I’d do all the PT as everyone’s mentioned, and a load of hamstring stretching too. That releases the tension on the anterior chain and the pressure on the muscles around the injury which obviously tighten up to compensate for the disc injury.
The big thing for me was to make sure you keep doing all the PT and stretching. If you don’t, it’ll get worse again and you’ll have to take time off. For me it’s a pretty clear pattern - I’ll be feeling good, then I’ll get busy and forget the PT and then BAM, it’s hurting again. That’s just my experience.
Also I’d get on the road bike before the tri bike too.