L5S1 herniation

L5S1 herniation.
Am I gonna make it?
What have you anons done to overcome this retard disc?

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Not sure if I had any disc issues as I never made it into a doctor, but I had sciatica pain and pain off to the side of my lumbar spine. Started doing all pullups for back, no squats. Just pullups and dead hangs and for shoulders I sit. Back us feeling way better after 2 months of that, nearly normal again. Cobra pose helps, theres a few legit stretches and poses that are good. Cat dogs or whatever they’re called. Just make sure you’re doing the good ones and not the bad ones as there’s some that simply stretch affected muscles for temporary alleviation. Jeff Caviar has a good video on this, what to do what not to do

You won't make it. Your back might feel deceptively good after a rest period, but once you get excited and return to training the pain will return. This will happen over and over again, and each one of these relapses gnaws your motivation until you don't even want to get up from bed. Disc herniation is truly a beginning to an end.

In your case I would consider the following options:
>become a curlbro who only does isolation movements
>become that autist who uses half of the gym equipment for his makeshift back-friendly exercises
>become a cardio retard who does calisthenics for upper body

All of these options are only worthwhile if you are naturally well-built and don't need to do much besides maintaining your physique. If not, then I would consider KYSsing yourself.

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>counting your vertebrae
you were never going to make it.

Hey friend! I have exactly what you're describing. I first suffered it March 2019. I began seeing a physiotherapist, paid for by worker's comp, I took time off work and basically had a routine of pullups and a daily walk for a few months. I was back in the gym after about 4 months and making some good gains, for legs I would do leg press and light dumbbell lunges.
All was good until February 20th 2020 I was in the gym and feeling great, somebody left a barbell on the ground with 2.5 plates on. This was a moment of total retardation, I thought "man my back's been good for so long, and that's baby weight, I'll just lift it" so I did, it wasn't very heavy but I knew my form was bad, my core wasn't tight and my lower back arched.
I am still recovering from that injury, I'm not working, my hamstrings are still really tight. I've come a long way since February though, I couldn't even stand for more than 10 minutes for the first few weeks. Now I am able to walk and have feeling and strength returning to my left leg.
Train around the injury; do your bird-dogs, side plants, hip bridges, pullups. Learn to engage your core, learn to engage your glutes, keep your back upright. Slowly build your strength.
Accept that you won't be a powerlifter and if you do want to go that way do it very, very slowly, don't even think about starting strength or something.
Don't listen to pessimists, you'll make it, but you won't make it according to someone else's standards of having a 2 plate OHP or some shit.
You can still get a sexy body doing calisthenics and live a healthy life.
Mcgill Big 3
Inversion table
Heat pad
Anti-inflammatorys
Low-sugar diet

Good luck brother, best to you. Don't push it too hard, don't stretch too much, if you get that sciatica sensation just stop whatever you're doing and lay on your back.

messed my back a week ago and seen a chiro. dropped the deadlifts and squats and im gradually feeling better already.
get a trap bar if you wanna keep it that way

Depends how bad it is for him tho, if it's major, he'll never be the same, of it's minor he can return fairly well

You'll make it, I fucked my sciatica 10 years ago. My work is very physically demanding (tree climber), I just take care to protect it. For me, sitting for extended periods causes it to flare up, as long as I use good posture when lifting shit I'm pretty g2g. McKenzie exercises help.

t-thank you user

Thanks man. A change in my goals and slight reality check is probably for the best. I know that feel as well. My back will be fine for months and something stupid like bending down will fuck my shit. I stock shelves so my job is basically a back destroyer anyway lol
Best of luck with your potato spine too bro.

Valid point user

Just finished my last year of college, I can only imagine how much the constant sitting messed me up. Hoping that not sitting for 6-8 hours a day several days a week now will help xD
I swear when I actually do “back pain” exercises it just causes more pain and instability.
It’s a fun existence ;-;

That painter really wanted to paint the horse asshole

>Thanks man. A change in my goals and slight reality check is probably for the best.

Happens to everyone dude, and it takes a lot of courage to admit things like that to yourself. Workout to promote well being and athleticism so your body endures a life time instead of blowing your shit out and acquiring injuries because you want your body to be larger

The exercise where you lay on your stomach and push your upper body up? Try it for a few days, if it doesn't help stop doing it.

Honestly yeah, I unironically got inspired to get into fitness because of zyzz. My goals were always for mass, but in retrospect that probably wasn’t the best idea lol

That’s one of my go to moves when the disc goes full autism on me. I think the best one I’ve found is decompression, basically any hanging type exercise that stretches the spine out to relieve pressure.

I herniated my L4/L5 years ago and have never gained back my strength. But I still have managed to make gains.
Do not go chasing big numbers anymore user. You will now live the lower weight higher rep hypertrophy life.

For you right now do what you are supposed to do. rest up, go to a physio and perform your pysio exercises. Dont push yourself too hard, if it hurts then you're doing damage and ease up. after you're feeling better get back to gym work, but light ass weight. When I went back to the gym, the things I focused on were:
machines that supported my back while i lifted
goblet squats
walking lunges
stretches (I had a big focus on stretching my hamstrings as mine were super tight)
back hyper extensions... these were very difficult and i only managed a few reps in each set. I didnt force myself too hard and made slow progression to doing 10 reps in each set while holding a 10kg plate.

hang from a bar and let your spine decompress, keep doing this

I have major herniations of L4 and L5. 2 and 3mm, respectively.

>stretch hamstrings
>stretch hip flexors HARD. If youre having spasms, this is the only thing that will provide immediate relief
>inversion table if you can afford
>sleep with pillow between legs
>keep your core strong
>dead lift! Double overhand, completely reset after each rep

Youre just gonna have to deal. Ive had mine since 18 or so and im 31 now. Welcome to hell! Kinda kidding, its manageable but its shitty.

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Will definitely do man.
It’s great to see other people who’ve had the same issue be able to work through it and keep gaining.
Back when I first injured the disc I was horrified to see that I couldn’t lift my left leg worth a shit. But eventually I gained back full function of it thank god.
Hope your progress continues user

Never tried the hip flexors, I’ll have to give that a go. Hamstrings are such a bitch to stretch. That’s probably half my problem lol
Oh I know man, I got mine at 14 and I’m 26 now. It’s been a real fun decade xD

Look up “couch stretch” and homd each sode for five minutes. Make sure it hurts, feeling like the muscle is ripping from the bone. Squeeze the same glute of the flexor youre stretching. Tight flexors pull your pelvis forward fucking up your lower back.

Can you touch your toes? The toe touch stretch stretches the erectors as well.

Thanks mate.
good luck with your recovery. we're all gonna make it

I had the same thing, i'll repost the thing i posted on reddit lols
Recovery from disc herniation at L5-S1, with nerve root compression, pain, parathesia, and severe muscle weakness following.

Hey all, I'm writing this because when my injury freshly occurred and in the months following I spent ages researching trying to find cases identical to mine seeking some consolation from someone who's already been through it so if you're reading this, chances are you're injured and that sucks. But as I have learnt thankfully this hasn't got to be a death sentence, nor will you have to suffer with this permanently. I'm basically writing this so you can read my story and hopefully it will be of some comfort to you. It isn't a death sentence and disc herniation and injury doesn't hae to be permanent.

So for context, I'm a fit and physically active 25 year old, I box and work in construction and was all round very physical. I was training for a fight and had been suffering nondescript back pain for a month, until immediately after one session a week before the fight was scheduled the pain became unbearably bad. After going to sleep, I woke up and was in excruciating pain, was unable to be comfortable, in my left leg twitches and muscle spasms, altered sensation (pins and needles, numbness etc) and alot of weakness. I was unable to perform a calf raise, a single let squat, or walk properly, instead limping along. Needless to say I was terrified and saw a physio. This was 14 weeks ago, three months thereabouts. At this time I was distraught, unsure if I was going to be disabled for life or something. Had an MRI, revealed a large disc herniation at L5-S1 with compression at the left nerve root. Also minor disc bulge at L4. So now we knew what it was anyway and my physio and the surgeons I'd consulted said it would be best to wait and see what happens in regards to surgery, and in my case at least I'm glad we chose to wait.

Anyway it sucked. There isn't any other way I can describe it. I was really miserable and worried and spent hours reading horror stories online of people who'd suffered similar injuries to myself but hadn't the good fortune to recover well (partially what has motivated me to write this). Sport was a big part of my life and being unable to work as well was bad for my mental health.

Physically however I was

-unable to walk without a limp, running was impossible with my gimp leg, no calf raise etc.

-bend over and put my hands further than maybe halfway down my shin

-in pain

-suffering neural tension, unable to straighten my left leg out without pain, push down on my foot pedal handbrake etc

Physio recommended rest from work, and I ended up having 2 months off, and some exercises which varied depending on the specific aim but with the general purpose of increasing mobility and 'activating' the muscles which had suddenly as if out of the blue totally stopped working for me. Again, the muscles not working was one of the scariest things which had ever happened to me. My physio had suffered a similar incident in which his arm had suffered nerve compression. As a result he was in a way invested in the topic.

At the start I was seeing a physio about 3 times a week and doing the exercises he'd given me every day and laying around feeling sorry for myself. Thankfully the pain stopped very quickly, after 4 or so days. I still had pain when I moved my left leg too much, coughed or sneezed and some nerve pain. It wasn't the excruciating and inescapable pain I'd endured before however.

Within about 3 weeks I was able to walk more normally, without limping. This came as a huge relief and was a clear sign of some improvement though worry was still ever present in my mind. I still couldn't run or do a calf raise.

Slowly but surely strength returned until I could do a single leg calf raise. At this point it was just waiting and with a slow and steady improvement. Again, it was slow. Weeks at a time, not days. All I did in terms of treatment was monitoring with a physio weekly and doing the prescribed exercises.

After 2 months off I went back to work and have had no issues. No lingering back pain, no injuries or twinges or anything despite being a bricklayer which is a job especially compromising to spine health.


After 3 months I could start to do very light boxing training again and have since returned to full sparring etc etc with no issues. I started running on a treadmill again, and can run on the road with no issues. Skipping is a bit harder for me because I still have some weakness in the left calf but even over the few weeks since I've started training again I've noticed strength improvement.

Even flexibility (with daily work) has returned to some extent. My left leg is still tight but after repetition of exercises I can touch the floor with the palm of my hands and don't have the tension and pain which limited movement. I'm 14 weeks since the onset of the worst symptoms, being weakness and extreme pain, and in -my- case at least the prognosis is looking really good. I'm back to doing what I was prior to the injury and making consistent and steady improvements in all areas which were affected. I really only wrote this since all that was online was horror stories of longlasting impairment, and while I cannot say either way what your injury is gonna be, but in my case things have been fine with rest and time, the flebility and strength returning through exercises prescribed by a physiotherapist.

About a year on now at the time of copy and pasting this, no issues. no lingering back pain, been able to work again, have mild pain in my glute occasionally but not really restricted in mobility or any movement. still training, have a home gym through covid, continued to have boxing fights. only noticeable loss of mobility is i can't like do mid or high kicks anymore in muay thai but like i feel i could work on it

Goddamn man that’s one hell of a ride. Glad to hear a fellow user can go through that and still recover.

Thanks for the ray of sunshine you glorious bastard.

I have absolutely no back problems but what you went through seems horrible.

Good luck and Godspeed user

I had a disc herniation doing deadlifts. Immediately couldn't walk, bend over, had to ask the gym owner to rerack my weights. Following days the back pain left, and I live with heavy sciatica in my right glute and thigh. The most important thing for you is high rep squats and hyperextensions. I advise you to never deadlift anything again, you're forever compromised. it does get better, the body will naturally heal eventually, wheter its the disc pushing itsself back in or moving the nerve out the way,

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Kind of related, at what weight should you start wearing a belt for deadlifts/squats? Im a DYEL only deadlifting about 100kg atm, but I want to protect myself.
>Inb4 belts are for fags

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