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Long post about Sciatica and 'back' issues

I went to a PT who was a student of Mark Rippetoe. He had rehabbed people with severely bulging discs using squats and deadlifts and his line was "you can either be strong and in pain or weak and in pain", which I thought was retarded.

My Physio (who is also Physio for an AFL team) knows my pathology and also doesn't seem to have a problem with me deadlifting light weight using perfect technique.

I feel uneasy about this, especially because I'm not 100% pain free and am still having issues
 
Give the deads up your only asking for trouble .. I had a discectomy 6 months ago and won't be deadlifting or doing weighted squats ever again it's not worth the risk of re injuring my back by doing movements that are going to be putting unnecessary stress on it ..
 
Have either of them had sciatic pain? Or had the op? I didn't think so.
PTs aren't always experts. And that attitude of 'toughen up' is ok in theory, but when you're still having back pain so long after an op, it's obviously not correct
 
I feel like I've spent the last year trying everything - Pilates, no training just swimming, back to training, natural supps, NSAIDs and Lyrica. In truth I don't want to spend my life
On meds masking the pain. I've been told it's too risky to have another op (esp a fusion) and that I just need to learn to manage it. It's quite confusing and am sitting on the fence at the moment.
 

That's right
 

I tried Pilates but my back wasn't stable enough for it, so did yoga. TRY IT!!!!
Speak to the yoga master 1st, you may need to do some alternative exercises during the class, but yoga was one of the best things for my back post op.
Who told you a fusion was risky? Your PT? Or that strength coach? They don't know what they're talking about, especially if they say deads are ok after a back op.
I know this may shock a few people on here, but you don't need deads or squats for big/strong back and legs. Chins and step-ups, lunges will work if you do them right.
I'll send my stretches today mate
 
Did you have a stretch last night? You haven't tried stretching regularly or yoga yet. They will help, I promise.
Where in Australia are you??
 
Stretches

Hip flexor 30 seconds each side
Calves 30 seconds (both togther)
Quads 30 seconds each leg
Hamstrings 30 seconds each leg
Sciatic stretch 30 seconds each side
Hip flexor again 30 seconds each side

Then if you have a foam roller, roll out your quads and ITB's.

This is my nightly routine mate. Hope it helos
 
Thanks again Taurus. I'm going to give the stretches a go every day.

Here's a little recent pic of me. No legs to speak of... obviously.
 

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I did. It's definitely helping. The burning In my right leg has pretty much gone now but sometimes when just standing there, I'll feel the nerve down my leg if that makes any sense.

I'm doing hip flexor (that one sends my lower back into a tiny spasm, like it's catching), the sciatic stretch, piriformis and hamstring.

I did a short run on grass on Thurs AM and yesterday I was in all sorts. This is frustrating because I need to run 2.4 and 5km for a fitness test next year.

Maybe the state of my disc means all the jarring is being transferred to the facets above and they DONT like it. I just want it fixed mate. Frustrating as all hell.

Even flat bench press set off the sciatica today. Legs up on the bench, a paltry 80kg, no compression but still had issues.

Suggestions? Give up training??
 
Maybe go back to just theraband stuff for a week or 2 while you get your stretching sorted?
 
I don't think I'd ever thought I'd say this but I had no idea how crucial stretching was, particularly for someone like me.

I've been stretching several times a day for the last 2-3 days and I've had a noticeable reduction of symptoms, even the sciatica itself.
 
I find stretching incredibly boring but I realise how important it is, so I do Yoga up to 3x per week. I find all the hip opening exercise offer the most noticeable benefit but the 'pigeon pose'' is my favourite for really opening up the pelvis and relieving any strain on the lower back. As previously mentioned, hip flexor stretches are equally important. Search for Yoga stretches on you-tube, try them all and find the ones that bring you the most relief. But frequency is the key to long term relief.

If your job involves long periods of sitting, this often causes the most damage long term as it causes the hip flexor muscles to shorten which places added stress on the lower back which only serves to aggravate many lower back injuries.
 
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