Bulged/Herniated Disc advice?

[grinch]

Great success story Hick! Here's to continued healing. It'd be nice go have an update some time in the future. I dont think i have that level of nerve impingement but im curious about dicectomy. A friend had it and he's back skiing hard and seems to have pretty normal activty level. Hopefully the same for you.

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[hick]

Great success story Hick! Here's to continued healing. It'd be nice go have an update some time in the future. I dont think i have that level of nerve impingement but im curious about dicectomy. A friend had it and he's back skiing hard and seems to have pretty normal activty level. Hopefully the same for you.

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Thanks Grinch!! And huge thanks for all your insight in this thread!!!
I’ll update for sure as I’m very curious how it will go. I was definitely in the non surgical approach even 5 days ago, but the talk of permanent disability changed that quickly!


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[Self Jupiter]

Thanks Grinch!! And huge thanks for all your insight in this thread!!!
I’ll update for sure as I’m very curious how it will go. I was definitely in the non surgical approach even 5 days ago, but the talk of permanent disability changed that quickly!


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Great to hear you found healing and progress hick! Scary situation you were in, yikes.

I am skiing again but it ain’t hard to tell that I’m still on the mend. I think I can keep myself from making things worse if I avoid smashing around too much, particularly bouncing around laterally. Skiing within my limits has been huge for my recovery at this point and helped me jump ahead with my PT. Hoping I can continue to progress into next season and get back to skiing the way I was a few years ago.

[Supermoon]

Dang Hick. Glad you are doing better. Permanent nerve damage is scary shit. Heal fast!

[Kevo]

Checking in on this thread.

I've been dealing with back/ hip pain since thanksgiving.

What initially felt like pain in the back of my hip/ SI joint area led to a series of x rays and MRIs on my hip as ordered by my orthopedic- diagnosis was femoroacetabular impingement with a torn hip labrum.

I started PT- DPT sees me and mentions that my symptoms don't track for a torn hip labrum. My pain is posterior and not anterior. He thinks I have a disk issue.

I see a spine doc- he says something along the lines of "we could do an MRI, but from your symptoms and nerve tests you are presenting with a disk herniation in your lumbar spine. Keep doing PT" I stay the course and do PT while continuing activity. The initial week of the injury was painful, but I was back to activity and skiing for most of the season.

Three weeks ago I shoveled thousand of pounds of snow off my roof and deck to prevent ice dams. The next day I could not stand and I could not walk. I tried to get back in to see the original spine doc but he was booked up. I went to a different spine doc who orders r rays and an MR of my lumbar spine. While all this is going on I cannot walk more than 20 feet. I'm in crippling pain. I spent two weeks bedridden. I didn't sleep for days because the pain was so intense- I'd say bordering on some kind of psychedelic experience- indescribable, intense nerve pain that caused my vision to darken when it set in. I could not sleep for days. Luckily the spine doc put me on 10mg of hydrocodone every 4 hours and 5mg per day of valium to help me sleep.

I got the results of the MRI this week- grade 4 herniation of L5/S1. Everything else looks completely fine. L5/S1 disk is very compressed.

I'm told that it will take time for the "jelly" to break down and the nerve pain to subside.

The spine doc (who is a 10 mile per day runner) advised me that if he saw my results on his own MRI that he would give up lifting and running going forward. The risk to L4/L5 is now substantially greater because of the lack of cushion at L5/S1.

The plan now is to continue PT and increase physical activity by 10% per week. If that doesn't work, the doc suggested an epidural dexamethasone shot. Once my back pain is gone and I'm back to activity (spine doc said that I should shoot for wanling, nordic/ downhill skiing, biking and bodyweight fitness going forward) that I should assess whether the FAI and torn labrum needs to be addressed beyond PT.

I'm pretty bummed about the idea of not running again. Trail running has been a big part of my life for a long time and it is a major part of my relationship with my pup and my fiancee. We've done a lot of big runs together.

Any advice from mags who have been through this would be very welcome. The pain has been so intense at times.

[Dantheman]

I have not been through this, thankfully, but you may want to check out Stewart McGill's work:

https://www.backfitpro.com/

[grinch]

Checking in on this thread.

I've been dealing with back/ hip pain since thanksgiving.

What initially felt like pain in the back of my hip/ SI joint area led to a series of x rays and MRIs on my hip as ordered by my orthopedic- diagnosis was femoroacetabular impingement with a torn hip labrum.

I started PT- DPT sees me and mentions that my symptoms don't track for a torn hip labrum. My pain is posterior and not anterior. He thinks I have a disk issue.

I see a spine doc- he says something along the lines of "we could do an MRI, but from your symptoms and nerve tests you are presenting with a disk herniation in your lumbar spine. Keep doing PT" I stay the course and do PT while continuing activity. The initial week of the injury was painful, but I was back to activity and skiing for most of the season.

Three weeks ago I shoveled thousand of pounds of snow off my roof and deck to prevent ice dams. The next day I could not stand and I could not walk. I tried to get back in to see the original spine doc but he was booked up. I went to a different spine doc who orders r rays and an MR of my lumbar spine. While all this is going on I cannot walk more than 20 feet. I'm in crippling pain. I spent two weeks bedridden. I didn't sleep for days because the pain was so intense- I'd say bordering on some kind of psychedelic experience- indescribable, intense nerve pain that caused my vision to darken when it set in. I could not sleep for days. Luckily the spine doc put me on 10mg of hydrocodone every 4 hours and 5mg per day of valium to help me sleep.

I got the results of the MRI this week- grade 4 herniation of L5/S1. Everything else looks completely fine. L5/S1 disk is very compressed.

I'm told that it will take time for the "jelly" to break down and the nerve pain to subside.

The spine doc (who is a 10 mile per day runner) advised me that if he saw my results on his own MRI that he would give up lifting and running going forward. The risk to L4/L5 is now substantially greater because of the lack of cushion at L5/S1.

The plan now is to continue PT and increase physical activity by 10% per week. If that doesn't work, the doc suggested an epidural dexamethasone shot. Once my back pain is gone and I'm back to activity (spine doc said that I should shoot for wanling, nordic/ downhill skiing, biking and bodyweight fitness going forward) that I should assess whether the FAI and torn labrum needs to be addressed beyond PT.

I'm pretty bummed about the idea of not running again. Trail running has been a big part of my life for a long time and it is a major part of my relationship with my pup and my fiancee. We've done a lot of big runs together.

Any advice from mags who have been through this would be very welcome. The pain has been so intense at times.

Id mostly agree with your doc. I used to love doing a lot of scrambles around our mts in banff/canmore but the pounding on the downs became too much of a risk for reinjury. Same for running.
Skitouring was the best after i did a few months of PT all day everyday. After that few months of pt i continued with the pt(which included spinning on the bike trainer for warm uos). After those months of pt i added in very short ski tours and built from there. Downhill skiing on the hill was too dynamic and hard with the hard base underneath. Walking and meadowskipping powder allowed me to do the most and build the safest way. Summer wjen i got out on the bike i was very cautious pulling on the bars with harder efforts. I just spun everywhere and used gears. If it was too steep i pushed tge bike. Pulling on the bars can reinjure the herniation.
It'll get better but likely always require some degree of maintenance. I'd recommend focusing on pt big time for 2 yrs and moderate hard efforts using bc skiing and biking without lofty expectations. Stay consistent but really try to avoid reinjury for a couple yrs. The tendons around that disc take a couple yrs to shrink to normal and that will give you a fair bit of support/protection , so tge goal is not to restretch those tendons and start that 2yr clock back to 0. Its like skiers thumb. Thats tendon stretching and you feel it for 1.5 to 2 yrs.
PT is the key. PT PT PT. Thatll train your brain to always flex to protect your spine. Endless pt sets. You want those tools for lifwe burnt into your brain so you can easily get back into tgem when you need them going forward. Every so often i hve an episode and i'll just do a 6-8 week pt sesh
Good luck. Think posture

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