Slipped Disc, need training advice...

I have recently slipped my L5 disc which is compressing on my sciatic nerve. The pain at this point (it’s been about 3 weeks) isn’t that bad. Yesterday I attempted to try deads because I felt better, which were light. Today I’m in pain. So, I was wondering if anyone here has any experience or could offer up advice as to what I Should and shouldn’t be doing. Meaning, deads obviously are out, what about squats? Running? plyos? Leg curls/extensions? I wanted to keep my leg strength up but now I’m not sure if it’s a possibility. I know my injury is a result of a week core and have recently targeted that in my training. Any help is appreciated.

I herniated the same disc about 6 years ago which led to severe sciatica. I made the foolish mistake of ignoring the precusory symtom of lowerback pain and continued to do heavy squats and deadlifts. Therefore, after 6 years I’m still training around my injury.

I can tell you that you’re gonna have to modify your traning to suit your condition from now on and this is a long term proposition if not a life-long one. Within the next 2-3 years any sort of exercise that requires weights to be put on your shoulders (ie- squats) is definately out of the question because it places excessive stress on the injured disc and worsen the sciatica . An obervation that I’ve made over the years is that movements that entails standing with weights on your hands (ie- deadlifts) and overhead pressing movements(ie- clean and jerks) places a significantly less stress on your discs, but even these movements are out of the question for you now. Depending on the seriousness, you have to allow a couple of years for the injury to heal before you can ease into the above movements.

If you want more info PM me.

Herniating a disc is a lot more serious than slipping a disc.

I have slipped 2 discs in the passed, one in my neck and one in my lower back. I’m affrade you’ll have to lay off for a while but no more then a couple of months, at leased in my experience.

As for exercise sellection try some ball squats (resistence is provided from a dip belt, place a swiss ball between your back and a wall and lean into it. Your feet should be about 14-16 inches away from the wall. Now squat down to paralell keeping your back straght and allow the ball to roll up and down your back giving you support through the whole ROM). I was able to keep my strength up useing these until I could do regular squats and deads. Keep in mind that once that disc has slipped there is a greater chance of it happening again, so be carefull espesially first thing in the morning when you get out of bed.

Hope this helps.

P.S. After your initial recovery you should start with some light reverse-hypers ASAP. Thats if you have access to the real thing.

I would try to find a good manual physical therapist to evaluate your condition. they should be able to get a good grasp of exactly where your problem is and what is causing it. the reason why i’m suggesting that the slipped disc may not be the cause of your pain is because research has shown that 25-50% of people have a bulging disc (bulging disc)with no pain. after the evaluation, the therapist should be able to do any necessary treatment. treatment will probably include core work and they should be able to give you specific ways to modify your workouts to prevent any more damage. if you have any questions, i will try to answer them.

climbon

One thing you might try is wobenzyme (see previous threads). At a minimum it will likely help because it will decrease the inflammation around the herniated disk.

SPE,

How’s your flexibility? Specifically, how’s your flexibility of your quads?

The reason I ask is that I tweeked my back about 12 days ago. I ran into a guy who gave me 2 stretches to help my back. Try these for a week and see if it helps.

Lie on your back. Lift up your leg as high as you can while keeping it straight. Make sure that the leg that is on the floor, you’ll want to make sure your toes are pointing straight up. Now with the leg that is elevated lean it over the leg on the floor. Go until your raised leg side hip just barely comes off the floor. Do 4 sets each leg, 2 x a day. Best yet have a partner lift and push your leg.

What this stretch will do is stretch your back muscles that connect way down by your knee.

The next stretch use a bench, couch, or your bed, and lay on your stomach and put your arms/upper chest on the bed and let your legs and hips be on the ground. You’ll really feel this one in your stomach and hip flexors. For an added strech have a partner flex your leg, try to get your heel to your butt.

Just try these and really focus on stretching. In a week of hard stretching your back will probably feel better.

walleye

I don’t have time for a long reply right now…BUT DO NOT DO THE SUGGESTED STRETCHES IN THE PREVIOUS POST, you do not want to be twisting or contorting your body in any way at this point. Go see a qualified physical therapist or a high level CHEK practitioner.

I second Boss14 go to a Physical Therapist our one of those CHEK guys.