Lifting Injury!

Hey there!

I was wondering if I could get some good advice on my relatively ‘recent’ injury. I am 18 years of age and about 6 months back, I performed pretty heavy deadlifts which caused this wave of pain that rushed through my back and almost paralyzed me for the next 2 days.

Shorty after, I was diagnosed with L1/S1 disc sequestration. Today, 6 months later, my back isn’t really hurting much but the sciatic nerve still makes things quite uncomfortable on daily basis.

I’d like to get some advice from perhaps any physio/chrios around here or those of you with experience in regards to anything that could be done to increase recovery and whether full recovery is possible at all? (can the sciatica eventually decompress?).

Also, am I allowed to engage in cardio (HIIT on recumbent bike?) and weight lifting at all?

Any help would be tremendously appreciated.

Thanks.

When it comes to dealing with a major injury like that, no one should be giving you advice without an in person evaluation. Go see a medical professional.

The medical professional suggests to simply rest. It’s been a while since I have engaged in any general physical activity. I am asking for a generic advice for exercises that do not generally specifically target or worsen this lumbar region. This question for the sake of simply revving my metabolism a little and keeping active and not to get personally tailored advice.

only you can find out what your limitations are, start adding things SLOWLY and see how your body responds. Don’t try anything that will compress your spine, like squats, deads, good mornings etc. as a substite for squats, What’s known as Bulgarian Split Squats(use dumbells) would be a good move to imploy if you feel its safe to do.

Good luck, i had a bad back injury myself, about this time last year i was rolling around in pain all the time. Never give up

[quote]GrindOverMatter wrote:
only you can find out what your limitations are, start adding things SLOWLY and see how your body responds. Don’t try anything that will compress your spine, like squats, deads, good mornings etc. as a substite for squats, What’s known as Bulgarian Split Squats(use dumbells) would be a good move to imploy if you feel its safe to do.

Good luck, i had a bad back injury myself, about this time last year i was rolling around in pain all the time. Never give up[/quote]

Cheers buddy.
Out of interest, how you doing recovering from it?

I’ve fucked up my back twice this year. First time I partially tore my rhomboid, and IT HURT LIKE A FUCKING BITCH. LOL even breathing was painful. Doc told me i’d be out for 6-8 weeks, but I was back lifting in three. Second time I fell straight on my ass out of my second story window trying to climb back in.

Doc told me i’d be out for 4 months because I probably had a herniated disc. Well, I sucked it up and dragged my ass back into the weightroom after two weeks. Now, my injuries were less severe than yours, but the point is, the body has an amazing ability to recover.

Try going back to the gym and seeing what is comfortable to you. BUT USE LIGHT WEIGHT. Do not try to go heavy you risk fucking yourself up even more. Yes, there will be pain, but I’ve read and heard several times that physical activity actually speeds up the body’s recovery time.

Try to find the exercises that irritate your injury the least. So, you’ll have to lift light, but at least you’re still lifting, right? And six months from now, you’ll probably be stronger than you were before your injury.

[quote]Jas0n wrote:
GrindOverMatter wrote:
only you can find out what your limitations are, start adding things SLOWLY and see how your body responds. Don’t try anything that will compress your spine, like squats, deads, good mornings etc. as a substite for squats, What’s known as Bulgarian Split Squats(use dumbells) would be a good move to imploy if you feel its safe to do.

Good luck, i had a bad back injury myself, about this time last year i was rolling around in pain all the time. Never give up

Cheers buddy.
Out of interest, how you doing recovering from it?[/quote]

im doing pretty good now, i can squat and deadlift (SUMO STYLE ONLY THOUGH). occasionaly I’ll get a weird pain in my back, or my form on squats or deads will fuck up and i will have a bit of pain the next day. Over the past year it looks like ive learned what exactly i have to do to keep the pain away. But the important part is now my back doesnt KILL everyday like it did for a long time, there is even some scar tissue built up down there that i can touch, feels like a pimple beneath the skin or something, its quite odd.

another peice of advice for you which you can employ right now, is to buy a foam roller and start using it every night. My back would not of recovered without frequent foam rolling of my hips.

After hurting my back and spending some time with a chiropractor, I decided to stop doing deadlifts and free weight squats. Instead, I do leg presses, machine squats, bent over barbell rows, etc. I’ve had no back problems at all since then.