Members SHIVmongrel Posted October 20, 2005 Members Share Posted October 20, 2005 Any active members of the board recovered from back injury to the point where you resume your normal active life? How long did it take? Surgery? Narcotic pain relievers? Basically, i'm about 5 weeks into this injury--occured while lifting--'cleans'...for some reason, the beautiful serene morning and all that lulled my brain asleep so after my last rep, and instead of returing the bar to the floor, I returned it to my waist and stopped to gently lower it to the floor. Thought it was just a strain, did another set, went to run, it never got better, i waited 3 weeks until i had to lift my right leg from the gas to the brake pedal with my arm one morning after struggling for 45 minutes to dress myself. herniated disc very near my tailbone, and a fracture on the above vertebrae that has separated one of the ligaments from the bone that may or may not be contributing to the problem (probably a prior condition that i never noticed) last week and a half i ate vicodin to get through the work day and sleep...it doesn't seem to help anymore i just finished my 7-day steroid treatment, and the last 2 days of that i was dizzy all day long now, i'm exhausted, i'm dying to exercise, and i've got life going on so i need to get better any advice on how to deal with this? i've never suffered an injury that prevented me from working out this long before, and i've never had pain like this to deal with that didn't go away...it sucks all around, i feel like an old man Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dark Angel Posted October 20, 2005 Members Share Posted October 20, 2005 I did the same {censored} but doing squats. Being on steroids at the time, I didn't feel how bad it was and delayed treatment. I spent a lot of time on back. I douldn't sit, couldn't really pick stuff up off the floor. It sucked for over a year (when the sharp pain went away). After that it took about another year to regain mobility because my hamstrings had shortened tremendously to take stress off my back. I recovered by walking. It's low impact, and strengthens some of the little guys. Then I stretched, and stretched, and stretched.Then I finally started lifting again, lightly with no leg work. Even leg extensions put too much shearing force on my spine. I did do some crunches using the lat pulldown (not on the floor, seated). After about a year of that, I was comfortable enough to start doing very light deadlifts (not to failure, sets of 20). Two months after that, I start doing good mornings and straight leg deadlifts too, also very, very light. All in all, it was about two years before I felt athletic again. It was a little over a year before I didn't feel uncomfortable doing things like carying bags of dog food (the big bags). My woman was "on top" for about 18 months. Anyways, it really depends on the injury severity and your own body. The spine is pretty fragile and doesn't heal too well since most damage is in the disks. And it's not like you can stop using your spine to let it heal. If you have any question of your own abilities, fork out for a good physical therapist. Not just a vanilla one, but find out who your local professional sports teams use. You need someone who really understands chiropractic ideas and posture and how it applies to sports. Most people go to these places just to walk. Your goals are a little higher, and so your therapist's should be the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ned911 Posted October 20, 2005 Members Share Posted October 20, 2005 I had a herniated disc last year. Had surgery the second week of December and was walking the NAMM floor the 3rd week of January. Within 1 hour of waking up I could walk perfectly with no pain or limp (lower back, caused my ankle to not flex). I still can't play my very heavy Tokai Gold Top but I also need to spend more time exercising my lower back. Been keeping to lighter guitars (Axis, Wolfgang). Other than that I am basically 100%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jack Luminous Posted October 20, 2005 Members Share Posted October 20, 2005 If the herniated disc is really serious (depends on the size and exact location of the hernia), you may need surgery to fully recover. Seek several different medical advices and find the best surgeon you can afford. You may also want to have it treated quickly or it may degenerate badly and become a lot worse. Good luck !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ant Posted October 20, 2005 Members Share Posted October 20, 2005 I had a herniated disc at L-5-S-1 and had a microdiscectomy last December 28th. After almost a year of intense pain before the surgery, now it is completely better and it has been since about February. The sciatic nerve is still a little bit tender, but that is only after extended periods of sitting. I am doing a ton of core exercises and my back is getting stronger every day. I did not have any fractures so yours is probably more serious, but my experience was excellent. I did the narcotic painkillers (Norco) for a short time after they tried doing the cortisone shot to fix the disc and then a blood patch to fix the hole from the cortisone shot. Worst pain I've ever felt and the Norco got me through it. But like any of the narcotics the first time is awesome but it's never that good again. Before the Norco I was taking about 2400mg of ibuprofen a day (for seven months) just to take the edge off the sciatic pain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SHIVmongrel Posted October 20, 2005 Author Members Share Posted October 20, 2005 Originally posted by Dark Angel I did the same {censored} but doing squats. Being on steroids at the time, I didn't feel how bad it was and delayed treatment. I spent a lot of time on back. I douldn't sit, couldn't really pick stuff up off the floor. It sucked for over a year (when the sharp pain went away). After that it took about another year to regain mobility because my hamstrings had shortened tremendously to take stress off my back.I recovered by walking. It's low impact, and strengthens some of the little guys.Then I stretched, and stretched, and stretched.Then I finally started lifting again, lightly with no leg work. Even leg extensions put too much shearing force on my spine. I did do some crunches using the lat pulldown (not on the floor, seated). After about a year of that, I was comfortable enough to start doing very light deadlifts (not to failure, sets of 20). Two months after that, I start doing good mornings and straight leg deadlifts too, also very, very light.All in all, it was about two years before I felt athletic again. It was a little over a year before I didn't feel uncomfortable doing things like carying bags of dog food (the big bags). My woman was "on top" for about 18 months.Anyways, it really depends on the injury severity and your own body. The spine is pretty fragile and doesn't heal too well since most damage is in the disks. And it's not like you can stop using your spine to let it heal.If you have any question of your own abilities, fork out for a good physical therapist. Not just a vanilla one, but find out who your local professional sports teams use. You need someone who really understands chiropractic ideas and posture and how it applies to sports. Most people go to these places just to walk. Your goals are a little higher, and so your therapist's should be the same. Oh wow--that timeframe is tought to swallow, but that is exactly the information i've been looking for. Thanks for the help man--I may need to ask you a few more questions as I go through this if you wouldn't mind. I appreciate it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members SHIVmongrel Posted October 20, 2005 Author Members Share Posted October 20, 2005 ned911, Jack Luminous, ant, and Dark Angel-- the help is greatly appreciated...i've always been the healthy strong one in the family, and it's a challenge to learn how to fight something that hinders the actual grunt work thanks for helping me out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members FLYING V 83 Posted October 20, 2005 Members Share Posted October 20, 2005 Back in 1980 I herniated the two lowermost discs and had them removed and my spine fused. The spinal tap test was worse than the 7 hour surgery. I was on my feet 12 hours after surgery even though the doctor said I wouldn't be able to move for 2 days. Life is never the same after back surgery. I can't run, sit or stand for long periods of time, and I'm in constant pain. Think of having a headache your whole life, the only time I don't hurt is when I'm sleeping. I refuse to live my life in a fog, so I take no pain killers or Advil at all, just live with the pain. I'm 49 now and still work in a warehouse lifting 85 lb boxes all day. You learn to deal with it. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ant Posted October 20, 2005 Members Share Posted October 20, 2005 Originally posted by FLYING V 83 Back in 1980 I herniated the two lowermost discs and had them removed and my spine fused. The spinal tap test was worse than the 7 hour surgery. I was on my feet 12 hours after surgery even though the doctor said I wouldn't be able to move for 2 days. Life is never the same after back surgery. I can't run, sit or stand for long periods of time, and I'm in constant pain. Think of having a headache your whole life, the only time I don't hurt is when I'm sleeping. I refuse to live my life in a fog, so I take no pain killers or Advil at all, just live with the pain. I'm 49 now and still work in a warehouse lifting 85 lb boxes all day. You learn to deal with it. Good luck. Yeah I got off easy. And yes the goddamn spinal injections hurt like hell. That blood patch was the worst 10 seconds of my life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members diddlybo Posted October 20, 2005 Members Share Posted October 20, 2005 I had severe back pain up until June of this year. I had a disc problem in my lower back and I was determined to find a way to recover without surgery. I couldn't sit in a chair, lift objects, bend over, play my Les Paul (the horror!) or hardly any normal activities. If I was awake, I was usually lying down. I did some research and found out about a guy named Leroy Perry, who had invented an inversion devise called the Invertabod, which inverts the body in such a way as to relieve lower back stress. I found one on ebay and bought it. The very first time I used this thing, I immediately felt some relief. I continued using it and my back problems becamne more and more manageable. Now I live a pretty normal life again. I still have some pain occasionally, but when I do the inversion stretch it goes away pretty quickly. I still don't do the long distance running like I used to, but I'm fine for most other activities. I changed some things as far as how I exercise, now I stretch alot more. I'm not cured, but now my problem is one that I can manage without it interfering with my normal everyday life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ant Posted October 20, 2005 Members Share Posted October 20, 2005 After the epidurol and before the surgery was the absolute worst time for me. My cousin suggested this Kinesiologist that she went to. Normally I would just call bull{censored} on it and never go, but I was so miserable that I would have gone to a vodoo priest if it had any chance of helping. It was some weird stuff but damned if it didn't take a major edge off the pain and get me back to my normal tylenol and advil routine. I didn't need the narcs anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ned911 Posted October 20, 2005 Members Share Posted October 20, 2005 Ant- Had the same surgery on the same disc. I was only under the knife for 30 minutes. Never did the others. Found a good back doc and never looked back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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