Hi folks,
Please forgive me for I'm about to make your ears bleed with a long-ish post about a dilemma I've been having for the past 12 months.
Taurus, I was going to send you a PM about this as we have both had the same procedure (micro-d at L5/S1) however I thought I would also 'throw' it out there to the other members of AUSBB as well.
In summary:
* Blew out my L5 in 2008 and had a micro-d in 2009.
* Rehabbed and got back to lifting but modified things somewhat
* No issues until April 2013. Started having leg pain again (right leg, same as before), but was mostly burning this time (as opposed to sharp, shooting pain) and would come and go rather than constant. Seemed to get worse with activity.
* Doctors, MRI's, CT scans, pilates, physio, osteo, rheumatologists etc.. no one really had any answers.
* Scans showed marked loss of disc height at L5/S1 coupled with facet joint hypertrophy. Small bulge at L4/5 but most pointed to the L5/S1 as being the culperit and the only options were (1) medicate (which I've been doing until now with Mobic (NSAID) and Panadol Osteo and Lyrica) ; or (2) surgery (L5/S1 interbody fusion, most likely approached from the front).
* Continuing to train but not doing ANYTHING that causes compressive loads (no SQ)... so bench, chest supported rows, chins, lunges, one legged leg press, flyes etc.. some light deadlifts (30kg). Training is the only thing keeping me in one piece. The neuro commented that he could see from the MRI that I have a good amount of muscle around my core and lower back. Training is probably the only thing keeping me in one piece.
The sciatica is worst first thing in the morning. It's not debilitating but I'm aware of it and have become, more or less, hypersensitive to the pain. I have a desk job right now but am probably going to be going into a more physical line of work next year (it's a dream and I dont want to negotiate on this) and I'm quite confused as to whether I'd be better of just getting the surgery done and hoping it goes well enough for me to get on with life.. or simply manage the symptoms and wait for it to get to the point where I have no other choice.
Back pain is complicated. There are loads of people with degeneration in their spines (including bulging discs) and are not even in pain or aware of it. Unfortunately, I am.
One thing that has helped recently is I saw an endo who performed bloods and saw that my free testosterone was low. He put me on TRT. It's only been a week but I feel better already.
My question is: what would you personally do in this situation? I realise it's somewhat irresponsible and silly to ask this type of question from strangers on the interwebs who (I'm assuming) have no medical qualifications but that's not really the point.
You are all active and love lifting (as I do), so if you were in this predicament, what would you do?
It's a serious question and I'd appreciate your input.
Please forgive me for I'm about to make your ears bleed with a long-ish post about a dilemma I've been having for the past 12 months.
Taurus, I was going to send you a PM about this as we have both had the same procedure (micro-d at L5/S1) however I thought I would also 'throw' it out there to the other members of AUSBB as well.
In summary:
* Blew out my L5 in 2008 and had a micro-d in 2009.
* Rehabbed and got back to lifting but modified things somewhat
* No issues until April 2013. Started having leg pain again (right leg, same as before), but was mostly burning this time (as opposed to sharp, shooting pain) and would come and go rather than constant. Seemed to get worse with activity.
* Doctors, MRI's, CT scans, pilates, physio, osteo, rheumatologists etc.. no one really had any answers.
* Scans showed marked loss of disc height at L5/S1 coupled with facet joint hypertrophy. Small bulge at L4/5 but most pointed to the L5/S1 as being the culperit and the only options were (1) medicate (which I've been doing until now with Mobic (NSAID) and Panadol Osteo and Lyrica) ; or (2) surgery (L5/S1 interbody fusion, most likely approached from the front).
* Continuing to train but not doing ANYTHING that causes compressive loads (no SQ)... so bench, chest supported rows, chins, lunges, one legged leg press, flyes etc.. some light deadlifts (30kg). Training is the only thing keeping me in one piece. The neuro commented that he could see from the MRI that I have a good amount of muscle around my core and lower back. Training is probably the only thing keeping me in one piece.
The sciatica is worst first thing in the morning. It's not debilitating but I'm aware of it and have become, more or less, hypersensitive to the pain. I have a desk job right now but am probably going to be going into a more physical line of work next year (it's a dream and I dont want to negotiate on this) and I'm quite confused as to whether I'd be better of just getting the surgery done and hoping it goes well enough for me to get on with life.. or simply manage the symptoms and wait for it to get to the point where I have no other choice.
Back pain is complicated. There are loads of people with degeneration in their spines (including bulging discs) and are not even in pain or aware of it. Unfortunately, I am.
One thing that has helped recently is I saw an endo who performed bloods and saw that my free testosterone was low. He put me on TRT. It's only been a week but I feel better already.
My question is: what would you personally do in this situation? I realise it's somewhat irresponsible and silly to ask this type of question from strangers on the interwebs who (I'm assuming) have no medical qualifications but that's not really the point.
You are all active and love lifting (as I do), so if you were in this predicament, what would you do?
It's a serious question and I'd appreciate your input.
