Months of fighting ongoing lower back stiffness finally culminated in a herniated disc a couple of weeks back. I have been going to a sports medicine clinic 3 times a week for treatment. The lower back pain has subsided, but there is significant continuous pain along the back of my right leg as well as my right calf. This is accompanied by numbness in my right calf and foot. Sitting is almost unbearable. I have been told that due to my very good health, if all goes well (i.e., I don’t do anything stupid) I may be able to resume full training in another 4-6 weeks. At this point in time I am doing easy swimming ensuring that I do not curve my back forwards (i.e., no flip turns or butterfly), and upright easy biking. It will probably be at least a couple more weeks before I can consider running. Needless to say I am quite disappointed by this setback as my training had been going well and I had no reason to believe that this upcoming season would not be my best.
If you have suffered from a herniated disc I would love to find out what your experience was regarding how long it took to be fully recovered and also what you are doing to minimize the chances of a recurrence. I am hoping that the 4-6 weeks is realistic and that if I can maintain some level of fitness during this time I may be able to salvage the latter half of my race season (July/August/September).* *
You will get a ton of different opinions when it comes to the back and what works will vary greatly. Just search on ST! Numbness and pain in leg is not good.
My story for what it is worth - herniated disk in lower back as a result of motocross crash. Major pain in left quad which slowly subsided after a month. After three months of doing no PT or other BS, I was good to go. I did do 2 sessions of worthless PT. No problems since other than some minor discomfort from time to time in my lower back which is probably more from stenosous then the disc issue. I just needed time for the nerve to settle down. I assume the “stuff” that was oozed out either reasorbed or calcified and now it doesn’t effect the nerve.
What I did do was to keep moving! Whether it was walking, cycling, easy swim withouth pushing off wall or something you got to keep moving! Hopefully the nerve pressure and pain will subside. If not you get a blocker shot and see if that helps. Third case the go in and relieve the pressure surgically.
microdiscectomy…research, educate yourself, schedule, get it done, recover, enjoy life, enjoy training…thank me later
had mine done 14 months go and it was the best thing i ever done for my back (same story like yours). if you live in nyc area i can get you the name of my doc
I had a C5-C6 fusion due to a herniated disk. I had it for a few years but got progressively worse until I could no longer feel my left thumb and could not sleep toward the end while laying down. Had the surgery and have been pain free since. I did lots of options, PT, Chiro, traction, meds…etc. None worked. I began walking one week after surgery, running about a month after surgery and swimming with a Finis Snorkel about a month to 6 weeks out. I did not cycle for a while, probably 3-4 months mainly b/c my surgery was in my neck and holding my big melon up is a feat in and of itself, let alone post op. For me, surgery was a god send. I tried everything(except accupuncture) and my herniation was past the point of a normal lifestyle and had the surgery. Good Luck…
Wow, I am hoping that surgery will be unnecessary. I have another appointment with the sports medicine doctor this Thursday. I assume that it is too early to tell whether or not surgery would be the best course of action. I need to give this some time to see if I respond to non-invasive procedures first. If there is no signficant improvement in 6 weeks or so, I may have to start thinking about other options. In the meantime I will try my best to not bite my wife’s or kid’s heads off as the pain has got to be temporary. It is probably time to stop worrying about this race season and start worrying about my health. F$%K I hate getting old.
Wow, I am hoping that surgery will be unnecessary. I have another appointment with the sports medicine doctor this Thursday. I assume that it is too early to tell whether or not surgery would be the best course of action. I need to give this some time to see if I respond to non-invasive procedures first. If there is no signficant improvement in 6 weeks or so, I may have to start thinking about other options. In the meantime I will try my best to not bite my wife’s or kid’s heads off as the pain has got to be temporary. It is probably time to stop worrying about this race season and start worrying about my health. F$%K I hate getting old.
save yourself time and pain mate
there is really nothing non-invasive to fix a herniated disk
you need to get rid of the cause not try to put a bandaid on a problem that will resurface sooner or later
How long of a recovery did you have? How long was it post-surgery before you were able to resume training?
done micro first week of january (2010), on friday morning back to work on tuesday.
back to swiming in march, biking april, running in may. back to full force training in june.
i took my time, no need to be a hero and jump to training faster, when it comes to back less is more in terms of recover.
i had an option to wait and let it get better on its own. i have heard it for almost 10 yrs. the next best option was getting microdiscectomy and i did it. yes, i do pay attention how i bend and i don’t lift heavy things and i do make sure my core is strong but otherwise i can handle 15+ hrs a week of training without any issues week after week after week.
Read up on the procedure which would seem to describe exactly what I have. I certainly like the idea of a permant solution rather than having to indefinitely cope with a problematic back. The surgery looks to be very minor. I will discuss the procedure at this Thursday’s meeting with my Sports Medicine Doctor. The problem that I foresee is that as I live in Canada, I suspect that there would be a LONG wait time for surgery.
I’m in a similar situation. I strained a muscle in my L6 region and I have pain in my right groin, outer right thigh down to my right calf. I have an MRI next week to find out what I’ve done. I can’t run because the impact jars the nerve but I am swimming and riding on the trainer. Here’s hoping.
I had an epidural treatment that reduced the swelling it worked great no problems since then, but I was a power lifter at that time when I had my back problems.
20 or so years ago had a disk removed and a spine fusion. Been great since then. Recovery to 100% mobility was about 3 months. I hear the procedure has been considerably refined since then and the recovery should be significantly shorter.
I have not had an MRI as of yet. I will find out this Thursday whether or not one is to be ordered. My understanding is that an MRI may be ordered if surgery is a serious consideration. The diagnosis was based upon an extensive analysis of strength, movement, onset of pain, etc. There are pros and cons to Canada’s Health Care system. The major benefit is cost to the patient. The major disadvantage is potentially very long waits for certain diagnostic procedures (MRI being one of them) as well as elective surgery.
L4-L5 here. I went through two years of tingling/burning feet. Finally, an inversion table and stairmaster work has 99% cured me. No surgery and I’m glad I didn’t opt for it.
I have a bulging disc in my lower back that seems to flair up every year or two. Just got bad again after a 65 miler I did last Wednesday. I started using my inversion table this weekend, popping ibuprofen and sleeping on the floor. This time it looks to be going away fairly quickly. I had a bout with it 18 months ago that took me out of commission for about 20 days - that time I had a CAT scan after 2 days of being frozen on my back in the bedroom - they told me it was a bulging (but not yet herniated) disc (I can’t remember which disc though). I’m not looking forward to graduation into herniated disc territory, but it’s good to see there are solutions and others dealing with similar problems (misery loves company). Sucks getting old - going to be 30 soon… : - P
I have not had an MRI as of yet. I will find out this Thursday whether or not one is to be ordered. My understanding is that an MRI may be ordered if surgery is a serious consideration. The diagnosis was based upon an extensive analysis of strength, movement, onset of pain, etc. There are pros and cons to Canada’s Health Care system. The major benefit is cost to the patient. The major disadvantage is potentially very long waits for certain diagnostic procedures (MRI being one of them) as well as elective surgery.
If it’s not confirmed by MRI then you don’t know for sure. It’s a “working diagnosis” Shouldn’t change your course of treatment at this stage. I am amazed how people jump to talk about surgery. That is definitely NOT the first course of action. Seems like you are on the right path, as long as you continue to steadily improve.
If you really need an MRI, you could pay out of pocket and get it done quicker.
Pilates was instrumental in allowing me to ski again. Of course, being a dumb*ss, I stopped once I felt better and need to start again before I get bad again. Keep your core engaged at all times (that, I still do, it became a reflex). Millions of people live “happily” with a herniated disc.
Edit: Oh yes, I hate surgeries (probably a reason I’m ending up with a splint for 8 months this year… as I finally had to have some minor one). Especially for something like the back. Again, core strength is key. I have two herniated discs, the biggest one being out by quite a lot.
