Friends, what an ironic turn of events!
After being on the SS NLP on and off for a couple years and tweaking my back (joint/muscular) on an increasingly regular basis as the weight went up, I found BBM and decided to go that route. The goal here was to take a step back, complete the lower back rehab program, and then move on to power building in order to continue to increase my strength and size in a more sustainable manner. For context, and as per my previous post, I am 39 and I have a history of back issues, including a discectomy at L4-L5 in 2016, and other problems. As of my last MRI in 2015: stenosis, herniation at L4-L5, bulging at L5-S1, DDD, and other stuff.
In preparation for day 1 of the rehab template, I set up my squat rack to do the hip extensions, and did a few unweighted reps to test for height. These reps made me feel my sciatica in a way I haven’t felt it in years. The hamstring stretch at the bottom felt incredible, but every time I came up, I felt my sciatic nerve getting tickled towards the top of the movement.
The pain wasn’t bad, and I was wondering if this was a normal part of the process and the entry point towards “desensitizing” my sciatic nerve. Unfortunately, since then my sciatica has flared up (day 3 now and improving). Pain is like 5-6/10 so nothing too crazy, but it is shooting down the leg through my glute and to the back of my knee, which is not common at all for me.
I’m in Canada where we have free healthcare so I got in touch with my doc to get an MRI (I know it won’t paint the whole picture, but it’ll at least give us an idea of what we are working with). In the meantime :
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Is it good or bad to “wake up” my sciatica with the hip extensions? Should I continue to do it, even if it’s just 1-2 reps to see how my sciatica reacts and if I can progressively increase tolerance and eventually desensitize (is that even a thing?), or should I stay away from movements that aggravate it?
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I follow this lowbackability fellow who truly believes in the back extension, but recommends starting with the Isometric hold at the top if the movement is too painful - would you recommend I do this and work my way up to the extensions?
And to be clear, even though I’m off to a rough start, I have a lot of faith in the BBM crew and programs, including teaching my back to do a variety of movements. I have a strong suspicion that flareups and setbacks are an inevitable part of the process.
One thing’s for sure, I sure as heck won’t tell Rip I did hip extensions and hurt my back because I’ll never hear the end of it