I had a similar experience (without the stay in hospital) except the pains were down my left leg. I ignored it and carried on working out. I then lost most of the feeling in my lower left leg, and have no muscle control from midway down my shin to the end of my toes (I can push down but cant lift up).
Now, over a year later I still dont have full use of my left foot, it was a ruptured disc which damaged a nerve root. I’ve been advised never to squat or deadlift again. I would suggest you get medical advice, and be very careful, unlike me.
[quote]Col-ossus wrote:
I had a similar experience (without the stay in hospital) except the pains were down my left leg. I ignored it and carried on working out. I then lost most of the feeling in my lower left leg, and have no muscle control from midway down my shin to the end of my toes (I can push down but cant lift up).
Now, over a year later I still dont have full use of my left foot, it was a ruptured disc which damaged a nerve root. I’ve been advised never to squat or deadlift again. I would suggest you get medical advice, and be very careful, unlike me.[/quote]
Just read to the bottom of the page, and saw that you got the medical advice - hope you have a quick recovery.
Man you got a lot on your plate. Cancer and back problems? Obviously, number one take care of cancer. Number two would be to keep your spirits up. Depression could rot you. Number three would be to try a swiss ball program for your back.
Obviously Rockscar was right in his references to disc problems. The back and its nerves are complex. Flexibility helps. It’s just hard to attain on the over 35 crowd. It will take a long time to improve your flexibility but diligence is the key. I am not a medical expert just an experienced injured lifter.
Yes, you can screw up your back wickedly when it is fatigued by bending over to pick up a napkin!! Back strength is not just vertical. Spinal erectors are your friends. Build them up and keep them strong for relatively pain free and mobile lifting career. I followed a video by Paul Chek using a swiss ball and recovered wonderfully from my lifetime of back abuse.
I’m almost 40 and my back feels good(most of the time,lol). I still squat and deadlift but am very careful with form and staying within my range of motion. In other words I go parallel with squats, no lower. I use sumo style for deads. That style still works back very well. Try some swiss ball routines. Ones with stretching and core exercises for abs and back. Good luck.
Thanks to all for the kind words, suggestions, etc. Cancer update: The tumor was removed and I need to get checked every 3 months to see if it returns or not. Thankfully we caught it early. Because of that we can hopefully prevent it spreading or getting to more advanced stages.
I do have Magnicent Mobility and my neurosurgeon approves of most of the moves except for the twisting motions. My 70 yo mom (who looks 60) does pilates and pointed out many of the moves are identical to what she does. However, I believe M2 goes beyond what pilates offers in terms of strength plus ROM. That said, it’ll be a few days before I do too much of that kind of thing.
Anyway, I’ll keep y’all up-to-date as I heal and get back in the game.
Take a look in Shugart’s Hammer at the yoga article (waits for much flaming with bated breath). Yes, I know it’s girly but there is a lot to be said for the stretching/ flexibility & core stability in yoga. It help massivley when I recovered from L5/ S1 spinal fusion & got me back in good lifting shape within 6 mths of surgery (shhh, don;t tell the physio).