Diagnosed with herniated disc L5S1....

Pain & Rehab Forum [Moderated]
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I’m still in shock with all of this. Rewind to March 23rd 2024. I was outside working in the garage. I wanted to change the oil in my dirt bike. I pushed it outside and swung it up onto the bike stand. Something I’ve done many times. I changed the oil. Worked on my four-wheeler, cleaned up the garage, and did some other odds and ends.

I showered and went to bed. No issues whatsoever. Just another day.

I woke up and went to get out of bed and fell to my knees. Back pain so bad I couldn’t function. I couldn’t figure out what in the world happened. I got ready for work and went to work. Still in pain. I could hardly work but I fought through the day. It was like that for 3 days before I went to the Doctor. The doctor did an X-Ray and said they don’t really see anything other than straightening of the spine. They ordered 7 weeks of physical therapy once a week.

I did the 7 weeks of therapy, and I do feel better. I was still in pain and i am not nearly back to ‘normal’ (pain free acting like I’m invisible like I have acted my whole life)

So, the doctor ordered an MRI. I had the MRI and now they are telling me I have a herniated disc L5 to S1. They also told me I have degenerative disc disease.

Now they want to do back injections. They scheduled me an appointment with a neurologist. I go see him in a few weeks.

I do NOT want injections, and I do not want surgery. They made it clear they would not do surgery on me because I am so young (37) and mentioned back surgery is always a last resort situation.

I want to heal naturally. You can’t tell me our bodies are this ‘weak’. I look at people 400-500 pounds, people who have done manual labor for 30-40 years etc…and they don’t have back issues like me.

I do know things I NEED to do…get back in the gym, fix my diet, and drop weight. I am 5’7" 205lbs.

Will dropping weight help? I’ve had a lot of people tell me no. For the last year I have been working about 60 hours a week.

My job is sitting at a desk. I literally sit 8-12 hours a day in a chair. Most of the time I’m reclined to an extend in said chair.

I am unactive for the most part due to working so many hours and odd hours. I am just so disappointed in myself for letting it get to this point. I have a feeling the back issue happened because let’s be honest. I am out of shape.

This is an absolute eye opener for me. This is the wake up call I needed. I am not ‘young’ anymore. I have to start taking care of myself before things get worse. I just hope it isn’t too late…the last thing I want to do is take pills forever and deal with back injections and surgeries.

what can I do? What advice do you guys have? Should I get back into the gym and do light training? My fear is messing my back up more…

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Hey @lowrider05 ,

I’m very sorry to hear this happened. Waking up with extreme levels of back pain is a terrible experience to go through and can create a lot of uncertainty. When you add in imaging findings of ‘degenerative disc disease’ and disc herniations, it can seem like recovery is far fetched especially if you begin to type those words into a Google search.

It is entirely possible to recover from this without surgery and get back to the things you love to do. I would highly recommend you read through our sciatica article, which covers a lot of detail around back pain, imaging findings, decision for surgery, and ways to find an entry point to exercise while navigating symptoms. Our pain in training article also provides a good overview of our general approach for finding an entry point into the training process when you’re experiencing symptoms.

I was inspired to begin writing that article after experiencing a similar injury to yours in May of 2020. Here is the very condensed version of the story:

On May 18, 2020 I hit a new paused squat PR of 625lbs x 3.The next morning I woke up with debilitating pain in my lower back that radiated down to my feet. I could barely sit up out of bed, my right shin was numb, and I couldn’t fully contract my right calf. It just felt like there was just no connection between my brain and that part of my body, almost an ‘empty’ feeling.

Fast forward 5 months later, I had made significant progress in my recovery through conservative management. Conservative management for me at that time was directed toward powerlifting training, so squatting the empty bar for sets of 10 was not uncommon in the beginning phases. Gradually, I was able to slowly build back up on my lifts through October 21st of that year. I was doing a normal ‘run of the mill’ squat session when I started to feel a ‘twinge’ in my left quad, so I stopped the session early. When I woke up the next morning, there were ‘electric shocks’ going down my left thigh whenever I would sit up. This time I couldn’t fully contract my quad, my knee would buckle when I would walk, and I was back to square one.

I never got imaging done as I had no intentions of getting surgery. Instead I began to focus more on bodybuilding, boxing, and other forms of physical activity (walking/hiking in particular) I could tolerate without exacerbating symptoms as much. As I began to stack small wins in training, my confidence grew and I slowly started to feel better. There were lots of ups and downs along the way, but eventually I was able to return to competing in powerlifting at USAPL Raw Nationals in 2023, finishing with an all time meet PR of 689lbs on the squat post injury.

I share all of this with you to provide hope that you can also overcome this setback and return to the things you want to do.

If you would like to schedule a consultation with us for more specific guidance on how to find an entry point into exercising again while managing symptoms, we would love to help. Here is our intake paperwork.

Wishing you a speedy recovery, stay strong.

Charlie

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Thank you for the information. I will check those articles out.
I saw a specialist today. He showed me the MRI. He said there’s no water left in my L5 is is completely black. He said it is a pretty bad herniation. It is sticking out quite a bit. He said the only thing he will do for me right now is an epidural shot.

I am leaning towards a second opinion from the Mayo Clinic in Arizonia. I am getting a diet back on track and I am going to get back into the gym and do LIGHT weight. My fear is messing my back up even more trying to workout.

I’m off to read the articles. Thanks again.

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This fear is the safety mechanism of your body, listen to it, I don’t want you to make your conditions worse