i know the general timeline is 6 weeks, but i’ve had this injury twice now. road racing begins this month, and duathlons in just about 6 weeks. any chance i get training in early? can anyone else who’s had this injury chime in on how long it took before you were able to get back to running/biking?
Biking - I was back on the bike in 4 weeks. Running - not for a year. I hope your case is better and you can run sooner and farther. But I had a large L4-L5 paracentral herniation pressing on the nerve roots. It took 6mo for the symptoms to subside completely and to sufficiently build up adjunct core muscles to take the load of the my lumbar spine. I gradually started running again: jog/walk 30sec, jog/walk/1min, … with progressive increases. Now I’m up to 30min running. I’ll get sprint distance this year and keep adding as my back will tolerate.
I had a mild herniation misdiagnosed as pyriformis syndrome and came back too soon/too hard and then blew out the disc almost completely. It was then misdiagnosed as some other muscular issue. I finally got an MRI and found out I had brought on going from bad to worse by rehabbing for the wrong problem. Look up exercises from Stuart McGill - an excellent PT out of Canada. His Bird-Dogs, Side-Planks and Curl-Up still form the core of my re-hab/pre-hab 18mo post-herniation.
Depends on how bad and where.
I’d guess most are lower lumbar since it’s going to take most of the load.
I tried to just outlast it for 5 months and that didn’t work out too well for me.
MRI, one epidural and PT (including the DRX machine) have made a world
of difference.
L4-L5. L5-S1. Pressing the L5 nerve root.
In short. See a doctor and get a good PT.
-Jot
Depends on how bad and where.
Key point. Back injuries are very complicated and individual. However, I very important and sobering thing to know is that a herniated disc is not like other soft tissue injuries that will respond well and heal up over 3 - 4 weeks. It’s a permanent structural change. You may never get back to normal. What one needs to do is find out what works for yourself in terms of treating it and coping with it. What works for me( I have a herniated disc and two other bulging), may not work for you. There are back stengthening exercise that are “gauranteed” to help your back that send me to bed for a few days. It’s a slow process. You also need to know that some things that you have done in the past you may no longer be able to do.
Steve said it best. Its an individual thing, so what works for one person might make your situation worse. I have been dealing with lower back problems for 7 years, with one flare up per year. I went 13 months before the last one, and it did come on after I got lazy with my routine that works for me.
I finally got an MRI and 4 of my 5 lumbar are whacked. 2 are herniated, 2 are bulged to varying degrees. Some mornings I can’t even stand up straight for a minute. If I sit at the computer(slowtwitch) my back gets locked up, but I deal with it. I am not 25, I am almost 40, and I ride in what the average person would consider a painful looking position on the bike. Ironically, my back rarely hurts while riding, but when its stiff, I get up and walk around like Groucho Marks for a few minutes.
Surgery should probably be your last option, but consult several doctors before making that decision.
For what its worth, I do find relief from spinal decompression therapy and stretching.
thanks for all the replies, i guess i’m a bit impatient, it’s just a bit sobering to hear that i probably have to give up rowing since my back will never respond to those types of forces again. my doc did say 4-6 weeks + PT after that, so i guess we’ll see where that goes.
Banana, I sat out last year with what I thought was a hammy problem, finally diagnosed as sciatica due to 2 bulging discs in September. PT, ART, lumbar injections,chiro, books and threads, you name it. All the time I kept trying to keep a base with whatever I could do, never feeling better for more than a few days. Now after 6 -7 months I’m resigned to take 4 or 8 weeks off with just PT exercises and minimal flexion (sittting). And now another season shot cuz I couldn’t deal with it as I should have from the onset.
As for the rowing, Maverick noted McGill above. Got his book too, Ultimate Back Fitness and Performance. He discusses rowing and training rowers to adjust their strokes after back issues. Might be worth a read.
M