- Joined
- Jun 18, 2008
- Messages
- 461
I've been away from the board for a while, to make a long story short....
I've had low back pain for the last few years, nothing major just tightness and bothersome really. Last just felt like a pulled a glute or hammy, went to Dr, got an MRI and was diagnosed with a herniated disc at L5/S1. I back ed way off, dropped the doses, brought my body wgt down and just trained on machines, etc to stay in shape. No row, squats, deads, OF presses etc.
2 weeks ago I woke up and my entire right leg was partially numb with my 2 outside toes on my right foot completely numb. Went back to the Dr and immediately recommended surgery based on my previous MRI. I was a bit thrown off by him recommedning surgery so fast so I had saw another Dr for a 2nd option. First Dr was a Orthopedic Surgeon, 2nd Dr is a Neurosurgeon and actullay the Dr. responsible to spine/ back issues for the Detroit Tigers, Pistons and Redwings. He took a new MRI and I was suprised. New diagnosis...
Large Bilateral Disc Protrusion at L5/S1 with mass effect on the S1 nerve
Mild Central Disc Protrusion at L4/L5 with Annular tear present
So, this Dr also recommended surgery... a microdiscectomy at L5/S1. He said as long as I am not training the L4/L5 tear should heal on it's own during the recovery process from the surgery for the L5/S1. We talked a lot about sports, athletes and bodybuilding. He's logic is this. I can go for epidural injections, try some PT, maybe see a Chiro, etc and I would have a 50/50 chance of improving and it would probably be anywhere from 3-6 months before I could do any decent weight training. Being 50/50 and it the non-surgical treatment didn't work, I would be forced into surgery which would add another 3-4 months to the overall recovery. Not to mention I would also be taking a chance of making the herniated discs worse via PT. So he's say I could et surgery now, recovery would be 6-8 weeks at most and then I would be back in the gym with a mild to moderate training routine.
I'll be honest. I'm about 90% sure I'm going with the surgery. I've done a lot of research I feel with confident it's the best bet. I would also add a hormone/ peptide program to my recovery which would would help with recovery.
Just throwing this out there to see if anyone else has been in this situation, had surgery, living with a herniated disc etc.
I've had low back pain for the last few years, nothing major just tightness and bothersome really. Last just felt like a pulled a glute or hammy, went to Dr, got an MRI and was diagnosed with a herniated disc at L5/S1. I back ed way off, dropped the doses, brought my body wgt down and just trained on machines, etc to stay in shape. No row, squats, deads, OF presses etc.
2 weeks ago I woke up and my entire right leg was partially numb with my 2 outside toes on my right foot completely numb. Went back to the Dr and immediately recommended surgery based on my previous MRI. I was a bit thrown off by him recommedning surgery so fast so I had saw another Dr for a 2nd option. First Dr was a Orthopedic Surgeon, 2nd Dr is a Neurosurgeon and actullay the Dr. responsible to spine/ back issues for the Detroit Tigers, Pistons and Redwings. He took a new MRI and I was suprised. New diagnosis...
Large Bilateral Disc Protrusion at L5/S1 with mass effect on the S1 nerve
Mild Central Disc Protrusion at L4/L5 with Annular tear present
So, this Dr also recommended surgery... a microdiscectomy at L5/S1. He said as long as I am not training the L4/L5 tear should heal on it's own during the recovery process from the surgery for the L5/S1. We talked a lot about sports, athletes and bodybuilding. He's logic is this. I can go for epidural injections, try some PT, maybe see a Chiro, etc and I would have a 50/50 chance of improving and it would probably be anywhere from 3-6 months before I could do any decent weight training. Being 50/50 and it the non-surgical treatment didn't work, I would be forced into surgery which would add another 3-4 months to the overall recovery. Not to mention I would also be taking a chance of making the herniated discs worse via PT. So he's say I could et surgery now, recovery would be 6-8 weeks at most and then I would be back in the gym with a mild to moderate training routine.
I'll be honest. I'm about 90% sure I'm going with the surgery. I've done a lot of research I feel with confident it's the best bet. I would also add a hormone/ peptide program to my recovery which would would help with recovery.
Just throwing this out there to see if anyone else has been in this situation, had surgery, living with a herniated disc etc.