Herniated Disc in lower back (Page 2)

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2008-01-14 2:27 PM
in reply to: #1078353

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Wheaton, IL
Subject: RE: Herniated Disc in lower back
I, too, suffer from many of the same symptoms as the rest of you - herniated disks in L4 and L5. I have also tried to use every method available outside of cortisone and/or surgery. In fact, I am scheduled for another MRI next week since the pain down my right leg seems to be getting worse with chiro treatment and PT.

My issue all along has been what Adventurebear stated - surgery is minimally successful at best, which makes sense when you think that you'd be adding scar tissue to an already crowded lower back region. I am not a huge advocate of anti-inflamatories b/c to me it jsut seems to be masking the pain and not solving the issue.

So, over the weekend, I was sharing my story to a fried and he mentioned having prolotherapy done. It took him a series of 4 treatments over 4 mos, but he is now pain-free. Further research found that it is relatively new, see attached article, but I was very encouraged to read in the NY Times that the Mayo Clinic endorses it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/07/health/07brod.html?_r=1&ex=119026...

I will keep you posted as I expect to call them this week to schedule an appointment.

2008-01-14 6:20 PM
in reply to: #1155333

Elite
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Subject: RE: Herniated Disc in lower back

simply2fab - 2008-01-14 2:27 PM I, too, suffer from many of the same symptoms as the rest of you - herniated disks in L4 and L5. I have also tried to use every method available outside of cortisone and/or surgery. In fact, I am scheduled for another MRI next week since the pain down my right leg seems to be getting worse with chiro treatment and PT. My issue all along has been what Adventurebear stated - surgery is minimally successful at best, which makes sense when you think that you'd be adding scar tissue to an already crowded lower back region. I am not a huge advocate of anti-inflamatories b/c to me it jsut seems to be masking the pain and not solving the issue. So, over the weekend, I was sharing my story to a fried and he mentioned having prolotherapy done. It took him a series of 4 treatments over 4 mos, but he is now pain-free. Further research found that it is relatively new, see attached article, but I was very encouraged to read in the NY Times that the Mayo Clinic endorses it. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/07/health/07brod.html?_r=1&ex=11... I will keep you posted as I expect to call them this week to schedule an appointment.

I'm not sure this would work for a ruptured disc. Here's what happens when a disc ruptures. A disc is kind of like a jelly donut - a tough outside covering with a gel-like center. What happens if you slam your hand on top of a jelly donut? The jelly goes flying all over the table. You can throw the squished jelly donut away and get a fresh donut, but you'll still need to clean the jelly on the table. And the thing that usually causes us pain isn't so much the squished disc (although it can be a source of pain), it's the "jelly on the table." The gel-like stuff that was forced out of the disc presses against nerves causing pain. Even if you could grow a new disc (and the latest research is looking for a way to do just that), you still need to clean up the mess that's pressing against the nerves. In mild ruptures, the body can somewhat clean itself up, the rupture can shrink, or the nerve just accepts it's new, gel-like buddy, and stops hurting. When the rupture is large, it can take a very long time for the body to complete this clean up process. You can either be patient and deal with the pain, or you can have a surgeon go in and remove the disc material that's pressing on the nerve. I'm sure I've oversimplified this, but that's the general idea.

2008-01-16 9:52 PM
in reply to: #1078353

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Subject: RE: Herniated Disc in lower back
From a professional point of view I work with patients with herniated discs every day. It sounds like your receiving good results with the Chiro therapy. A herniated disc in the lumbar spine if treated properly and early enough can be kept "quite" as long as you treat it early enough and strengthen your core muscles. I would recommend seeing and orthopedist for a consult after you finish with your Chiro so that he can prescribe some physical therapy from a Physical Therapist. I has been my experience that most Chiro offices don't do a great job with the rehab therapy, but I could be wrong about your docs office.

You have other options, one of which has a 86%-92% success rate, its called IDD therapy utilizing a spinal decompression machine. The machine we have is called an accu-spina, and we have had excellent results.

For the time being I would recommend that you stay away from running due to the compressive force that it produces unless performed in a pool. Swimming should be OK but cycling in an aero position for prolonged periods can irritate the disc.

Surgery is not a bad option either if your considering laser disc surgery because it has an excellent success rate, minimal pain, minimal healing time and low chance of infection. All the other surgeries are barbaric (laminectomy, discetomy, fusion, replacement).

Your young and you heal quick. Stick with the chiro, do some PT, and keep up with the core exercises and your be good as new.
2008-01-29 1:01 PM
in reply to: #1078523

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Subject: RE: Herniated Disc in lower back
Writebrained - 2007-12-01 1:56 PM

I've got four of them.  MRI pix to prove it.

Set realistic goals. 

Take things on a day-to-day basis.  Swim if you can't bike, Bike if you can't swim, Run if you can't bike (at times I cannot bike but can run). 

Pills can be a good thing (many will disagree), expecially those who don't have to crawl to the bathroom at 3 am.

Yoga!  My saving grace. 

Don't give up.  Never, ever.  You'll be fine.  Day at a time.



GREAT ADVICE!









Edited by badnews 2008-01-29 1:02 PM
2008-01-30 9:38 AM
in reply to: #1095445

Member
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Tampa, FL
Subject: RE: Herniated Disc in lower back
idahodan - 2007-12-11 2:20 PM

Trained with a really bad herniation at L5-S1 for 2 years. Almost constant pain. Did some conservative treatments during a particularly bad flair up. PT, muscle relaxers, hydros. When they finally did an MRI to see what was going on my nuerosurgeon was in awe of the impingement on my sciatic nerve. It was so shrouded with the disc he had to point to the sciatic nerve on the right side at that level and say "trust me when I say that same thing is on the left side."

I was in surgery about 3 weeks later.

To say I am 100% pain free would be lying. Fact is the last couple of days I have had some problems. My surgeon told me that due to the damage done to my nerve from the constant grinding of the herniated disc that I will probably have problems forever. It is tolerable and only lasts a few days and only happens a few times a year.

Makes me question the route of conservetive treatment a bit. I went through the pain for 2 years! It took that long before someone finally thought an MRI was warranted. What if that herniation had been seen 6 months, or a year after the injury. Would the long term damage be worse? Better? Who knows.

I did an OLY 7 months after surgery. A marathon 15 months after surgery. A HIM 19 months after surgery. And if things go well I will be an Ironman 28 months after surgery. Keep inmind there were morning I physically could not get out of bed without assistance.

As for chiro for a herniated disc? Never did it. Dont want to get into that debate.



Congrats on doing the tri's. I am still working towards my first.

I had a similar experience 3 yrs ago, 25 years old. I had pain for two years, some days it was completely intolerable. My physician said it was sciatic pain, prescribed some weak muscle relaxers, and sent me on my way. I continued training, at the time it was exclusively running. It got to the point where the only time it didn't hurt was when I was walking or running.

After a weekend of rescue SCUBA training, I could not stand up, drive, or lay flat, and had the most incredible pain I could imagine. My wife was so upset with the physician for his unresponsiveness, that she drove me to the chiropracter. He ordered an MRI immediately, took a look at it that afternoon, and scheduled an appointment with a neurosurgeon 2 days later. The neurosurgeon, who is known as being conservative with treatments, ordered surgery two days later.

I now have a fusion and some additional metallic hardware, still have occasional pain, and have to cut back on running way more than I want to. But I can walk, run, swim, bike, and play sports with less pain than I had before the surgery.

There are two lessons I learned from this:
1. If you are not getting the attention you think you need from your physician, don't hesitate to see someone else, another physician, chiropracter, Registered Nurse, whatever.
2. If you have chronic back pain, ask for an MRI. My physicians reluctance to order one, cost me my L4-L5 disk.
2008-02-02 1:29 PM
in reply to: #1078353

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Subject: RE: Herniated Disc in lower back
Hi. I am new to this site and as yet have not competed in any Tri's. I have lower back problems though which I've had for the last 5 years. The problem is pretty similar to yours where the L4 disc is herniated and the L5/S1 has a tear in it. The first 4 years of the 5 years I have had this problem I had no real problem until this time last year. Basically woke in the morning and couldn't move.
I was referred to a surgeon (eventually) and he is going to operate: fuse the vertibrae of the L5/S1 and replace the L4 disc. I'm 38 and I'm a bit worried of the results of the Op. As most of you have mentioned, I also have 'tingling' down my legs which is worse one day but good the next. I have referred pain in my scrotum though, which is like being kicked there everyday. The surgeon is confident that he can fix my back but he's not sure about the referred pain.
I have been trying to train but can only train for a few days before the pain gets too much. The only pain killers that work won't allow me to do my job so I just rest and it settles down.
Apparently, for my rehab I'll be using a bike and swimming alot. Has anyone got any experience with either rollers or a wind trainer? It would be nice to use my bike for the rehab so that I won't have to get use to rinding it again when I train properly.

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