Frogman
New member
I'd have the op mate .I had a blowout between my L3/L4 May last year ended up in hospital unable to walk 2 weeks after the initial injury occurred ,my right leg felt as though it had a hot knife jammed in it (groin and vastas intermedius ) . Had a 9cm needle injection of some concoction into the herniated region whilst in hospital which relieved the pain enough to get me walking on crutches a week later . After getting home from up QLD started working with a physio in Coffs Harbour , we were trying the passive approach to start with which was not really doing a great deal so off to the Neurosurgeon for a visit . A second injection was attempted a week or 2 later which was aborted half way through as all the muscles tensed up as the needle got about 7cm in and the pain associated was unbearable , all this was about 3 months after the initial injury had occurred.
After all this and not much gain I asked the Nuero if we could have a crack at surgery which he had thought was the way to go also . Long story short a week after the surgery was feeling a lot better in the leg region still some back pain but that's just a normal reaction of all the muscle still believing it has to protect the region . As was mentioned above in another post the nerve if left compressed is going to die off and you will end up with some sort of associated numbness in your leg which I still have but the longer you leave it the worse it will get (I guess this depends on how bad your injury really is ) . It was explained to me by orthopedic surgeons and physios once the nerve has been freed up it's like a garden hose that a car has just run over it , it's still in a squashed state and slowly expands again as time goes by so some people don't feel relief straight away.
It's about 3 months since I've had surgery and i'm feeling pretty strong now near ready to get back to work . I'm training again although very cautious of how I perform certain exercises for examples bent rows are done lying on a bench and squats using a dumbbell tied around my waist like weighted dipping so the weight is not compressing the damaged region I'm not attempting to break and weight records anymore and busting my arse and concentrating on feel more which is a good change . I'm doing plenty of transversus abdominus and associated area work which I'm finding beneficial for my back. If your worried about having to stop training it's not that long off and you can do some resistance work with bands or something to get a bit of a pump, dips are good, stretches the spine also while your suspended which I find good for my back.
Just on another point my injury occurred at work and my op was paid for , the op cost around 10k as the bill was sent to me instead of workcover by mistake , so it's not cheap but I feel as though if I was to have another injury of similar nature and I had to pay I would try and get the funds and do it again.
In the end it's up to you mate it's your back ..
Good Luck with it..
After all this and not much gain I asked the Nuero if we could have a crack at surgery which he had thought was the way to go also . Long story short a week after the surgery was feeling a lot better in the leg region still some back pain but that's just a normal reaction of all the muscle still believing it has to protect the region . As was mentioned above in another post the nerve if left compressed is going to die off and you will end up with some sort of associated numbness in your leg which I still have but the longer you leave it the worse it will get (I guess this depends on how bad your injury really is ) . It was explained to me by orthopedic surgeons and physios once the nerve has been freed up it's like a garden hose that a car has just run over it , it's still in a squashed state and slowly expands again as time goes by so some people don't feel relief straight away.
It's about 3 months since I've had surgery and i'm feeling pretty strong now near ready to get back to work . I'm training again although very cautious of how I perform certain exercises for examples bent rows are done lying on a bench and squats using a dumbbell tied around my waist like weighted dipping so the weight is not compressing the damaged region I'm not attempting to break and weight records anymore and busting my arse and concentrating on feel more which is a good change . I'm doing plenty of transversus abdominus and associated area work which I'm finding beneficial for my back. If your worried about having to stop training it's not that long off and you can do some resistance work with bands or something to get a bit of a pump, dips are good, stretches the spine also while your suspended which I find good for my back.
Just on another point my injury occurred at work and my op was paid for , the op cost around 10k as the bill was sent to me instead of workcover by mistake , so it's not cheap but I feel as though if I was to have another injury of similar nature and I had to pay I would try and get the funds and do it again.
In the end it's up to you mate it's your back ..
Good Luck with it..